The president of the Republic, Pedro Castillo Terrones, announced that it will terminate the appointment of the Minister of Health, Jorge Lopezafter the complaint —made public by Punto Final, this last Sunday, October 13— where a series of suspicious deposits were reported, under the smurf modality, carried out by trusted personnel of the head of the Minsa that would have had his ex-partner as his destination.
“Given the facts spread by the media that would involve the current Minister of Health, and in order to demonstrate absolute transparency in my government, I have decided to terminate his functions. I reiterate my commitment to continue working for the country,” said the president through his Twitter account.
The head of state acted a few hours after hearing the complaint in Punto Final and that this generated a rejection response from the Congress of the Republic. The congressman from Avanza País and president of the Defense Commission, Diego Bazanannounced that he would present an interpellation motion against the former head of the Minsa, if he was not removed from office, it was finally decided to remove him due to the scandal.
Complaint against Minister Jorge López
According to a report by “Punto final”, Minsa workers would have made a series of bank deposits executed in a suspicious manner under the modality of the ‘smurf’ in favor of the ex-cohabitant of the Minister of Health, Jorge López, and mother of his children, Dervy Apaza Meza.
On August 31 of this year, six workers from the ministerial office were called to the office of the head of the Health portfolio to make several deposits in different BCP agencies in Lima, all of them to a single account, that of Apaza Mendoza. The 12 transactions added up to a total of 98,400 soles.
Witnesses cited by the Sunday newspaper pointed to Jorge Lopez as the man who coordinated the operation and who gave them the account number to which these movements should be made. Two senior Minsa officials, Juan Carlos Delgado Echevarría (head of the advisory cabinet) and Dayse Gamarra Vera (assistant to the minister), were also accused of being the main instigators.
A week before this event, on September 23, the well-known doctor louis quitobusinessman owner of several medical centers throughout the capital and member of the Health sector, made a deposit to an account in dollars that Dervy Apaza Meza opened a day earlier. The amount of this transaction was $70,000.
Using these revenues, Apaza Meza acquired an apartment in Jesús María for 412,000 soles. This amount was mobilized in a payment system in which the first installment was paid for a point of S/ 268,617 one day after the transfer in dollars made by Dr. Luis Quito and the second installment, of 81,582 soles, was paid a day after the deposits made by Minsa workers on September 1.
