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Lima (AFP) – The Board of Supreme Prosecutors of the Public Ministry elected Attorney Patricia Benavides on Monday as Attorney General of Peru, thus becoming the person in charge of directing the new investigation against President Pedro Castillo for a case of alleged corruption.
“In an extraordinary session, the Board of Supreme Prosecutors unanimously elected Patricia Benavides Vargas as the new prosecutor of the Nation,” the institution announced on its Twitter social network account.
The new chief prosecutor will hold the position for three years and replaces Pablo Sánchez, who held that role on an interim basis for the last two months.
Among the main causes that Benavides will have to attend to is the investigation into Castillo, which began at the end of May. This case marks a precedent in justice because it is the first time that a president has been subjected to an investigation during his term.
The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the leftist president, in power for 11 months, for alleged crimes of influence peddling, criminal organization and collusion aggravated by a cause that involves his political and family environment.
Peruvian law prevents a president from being prosecuted while he is in power, but not advancing in the investigations against him, says the Prosecutor’s Office. The term of Castillo, a 52-year-old former rural teacher, ends in July 2026.
Castillo has already responded to the Prosecutor’s Office
Castillo went last Friday to the Prosecutor’s Office, in Lima, for the first time, where he testified for four hours in the presence of then-Attorney General Pablo Sánchez.
“We have given ourselves all the time and all the predisposition to answer all the questions” from the Prosecutor’s Office, the president said on Friday after answering the questions.
“We are willing to continue responding, because Peru needs us to clarify things and we are going to continue doing so,” added Castillo.
This is the investigation into the “Puente Tarata III” consortium, which seeks to determine whether a former Minister of Transportation, six legislators, a former Secretary General of the Presidency and two nephews of Castillo were part of an alleged criminal network headed by the president to grant a public works contract.
Four under investigation from the president’s environment are fugitives after a preventive detention order was issued against them. Police are offering rewards of between $4,000 and $13,300 for his arrest.
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