The suspended senior prosecutor for Money Laundering, Elizabeth Peralta Santur, was transferred to a cell in the Chorrillos women’s prison to serve preventive detention for her involvement in alleged favors to the mining businessman Javier Miu Lei, related to the return of four bars of gold seized from his company Lomas Doradas.
According to the tax accusation, his friend and television presenter, Andrés Hurtado, would have been the intermediary in the delivery of illicit money to carry out these favors. In a recent report by End Pointhis lawyer, Benji Espinoza, defended Peralta’s decision to turn himself in and not remain in hiding, arguing his extensive career in the prosecutor’s office.
“At one point was it indicated that he was going to go underground? From the first moment it was established that she was going to turn herself in. I recognize that she has the right to resist her own detention. But the doctor is a prosecutor with forty years of experience, so she was going to give a bad message if, being a prosecutor, she did not turn herself in,” Espinoza told Punto Final.
Andrés Hurtado is also serving preventive detention, identified as the operator in the delivery of alleged bribes. The accusation is based on the testimonies of the brothers Iván and Martín Siucho Neira, who confessed to being part of a network for collecting and delivering money intended to influence judicial decisions.
Hurtado’s defense, led by Elio Riera, questioned the lack of conclusive evidence.
“The bribe is not proven, it is not proven where it is. The Prosecutor’s Office says it is a clandestine crime. I can understand a thousand dollars, two thousand dollars, but who has a million dollars in their pocket? Nobody. There should be traceability and they have not demonstrated it,” Riera told the Sunday newspaper.
Both defenses suggest that the Siucho brothers are seeking to protect themselves from a parallel investigation for money laundering, in which they face serious accusations.
The accusation against the Siucho Neira
The Siucho Neira brothers, led by Iván Siucho, have been investigated since 2022 for their alleged illicit activities in the mining sector. They are accused of exporting gold with fraudulent documentation through the company Quántico Servicios Integrados SAC. The initial investigation identified them as a criminal organization, but this qualification was later withdrawn by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Iván Siucho’s lawyer, Dr. Iturrizaga, stated that his client is not seeking procedural benefits and questioned the judicial process.
“There is no relationship or procedural action in the case of Andrés Hurtado. In the coming days the Prosecutor’s Office will confirm whether it accepts effective collaboration,” said the lawyer.
Furthermore, lawyer Riera denounced that the measures against his clients are more flexible compared to those applied to Peralta and Hurtado.
“What is the restriction measure that has been imposed on them? Preventive detention? House arrest? On the contrary, they allow them to go on a trip, to leave the country without any type of restrictions,” he criticized.
