Colonel PNP Harvey Quiltingformer head of the Division of Investigation of Highly Complex Crimes (Diviac), filed a complaint before the Lima Single-Judge Court in which he requests the initiation of criminal proceedings against the current Minister of the Interior, Juan José Santiváñez Antúnezfor the crime of aggravated defamationas defined in article 132 of the Penal Code.
In the complaint, the legal defense of Quilting requests a prison sentence of 1 year and 8 months for Santiváñez Antúnez, as well as the payment of civil compensation of 1,000,000 soles.
The complaint is based on statements that the Minister of the Interior gave to various media outlets between May 16 and July 24, 2024. Colonel Colchado maintains that Santiváñez He tried to discredit him in society, “referring to false facts linked to my performance as head of Diviac, implying alleged acts of corruption,” the document states.
He also stated the following: “Thus, the now accused tarnishes and muddies my honor and honour that I have earned throughout my career, which is why I am appealing to you to request judicial assistance.”
The statements of the Minister of the Interior that Colonel Colchado points out as defamatory
On May 16, in an interview on Milagros Leiva’s program, a few hours after taking office as Minister of the Interior, Juan Santivañez He commented that the Diviac It was “a team that also cost the State money… the special group… approximately 1 million soles a month, almost 15 million soles a year.”
In the complaint, Harvey Colchado’s defense responds in this way: “That figure is totally false, since, from November 2023, when I assumed the leadership of Diviac, until my departure, in mid-April 2024, the Intelligence Department of the Diviac He managed the special resources for intelligence actions (safe house rental, vehicle rental, covers, payment of human sources, Ovise, etc.), obtaining an average of S/. 900,000 per month, approximately, for the entire Diviacdistributing it among its 39 intelligence sections nationwide, corresponding to the EEI Delta, which was part of the Special Support Team Eficcopan average of approximately S/ 85,000 per month, to carry out police intelligence work only.”
The colonel then adds: “That is to say, the special team has only used 7% of the total intelligence resources that the Diviac Intelligence Department managed monthly, which, Your Honor, you will be able to corroborate after requesting it with the legal formalities from the Diviac Intelligence Department or the Intelligence Directorate.” PNP”.
As the next argument, the legal defense of the colonel PNP He adds: “In this regard, the defendant, when stating that one million soles were spent, is gesturing that he does not know what the money was used for; however, due to his position as head of the sector and the scope he has for access to information, by carrying out minimal steps in the administrative apparatus, it was enough to know the movement of the PNP Special Team and the budgets that it assigned to it,” he concludes.
