Patricia Benavides will return as a supreme prosecutor to the Public Ministry, after the Judicial Branch annulled its suspension for 24 months and in compliance with the resolution of the National Justice Board that annulled its previous dismissal. What is now missing, according to different judicial sources, is to define the date and time for the re -entry of Benavides to the Prosecutor’s Office and in which office will perform its functions.
For this, they must meet three conditions. In principle, the prosecutor of the Nation, Delia Espinoza He asked the National Board of Justice (JNJ) to require the legal and constitutional scopes of their decision. Then, through the Public Ministry Budget Area, it must be defined whether there are funds to pay their salary and operating expenses or if it is necessary to make an additional requirement to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Finally, the most complicated thing is to define the office it will occupy. To date, neither Humberto Abanto, lawyer of Benavides, nor the same restored prosecutor knows in which of the seven offices will be reinstated, taking into account that the only two available – first and the second Supreme Anti -Corruption Prosecutor’s Office – record processes against him. The other possibility is to become the new prosecutor’s representative in the National Jury of Elections (JNE).
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The Republic talked with the lawyer Humberto Abanto, who said they have not yet notified the day or place of the return of his client. “There was a request for clarification of Mrs. Espinoza. (…) Everything will depend on what the National Board of Justice clarifies,” he said.
Delia Espinoza presents a new clarification to the Jnj
On the first of August, the Prosecutor of the Nation presented a new request for clarification to the JNJ, through Office No. 270-2025-MP-FN, in which it requested the interpretation of the content of the resolution that orders the restitution of Benavides as a supreme prosecutor, since it alleges that it contains “inconsistencies and irregularities.”
He also assured that the application does not constitute an act of contempt, but that “it is formulated in order to avoid any administrative situation that could derive in error or an undue execution of the issued act.” In that sense, it would only be waiting for the Board’s response to know the designation of the office and how it resolves the Public Ministry’s budget area to pay Benavides’ salary.
Obstacles to the return of Patricia Benavides
The Public Ministry has seven offices, of which five are occupied by Supreme Prosecutors: Delia Espinoza (Prosecutor of the Nation and president of the Board of Supreme Prosecutors), Pablo Sánchez (First Supreme Prosecutor’s Office in Criminal), Zoraid Family).
The two offices that are available are the first and second Supreme Anti -Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, but both have processes against Benavides -the white necks of the port and case Enma Benavides, Patricia’s sister -, which would prevent their designation for conflict of interest. In that line, the viable option would be to transfer one of the prosecutors of the other offices to a new position, to be able to locate there to Benavides Vargas, or designate it as a representative in the National Jury of Elections (JNE), on this last alternative Delia Espinoza pronounced.
“There is a concern. In what area? Currently, we have several folders even for that alleged criminal organization that Mrs. Benavides had led, but there are already six constitutional complaints presented to Congress with very strong elements of conviction,” he said. Then, he added that such concern must be resolved in the Prosecutor’s Office, where it will be evaluated whether to place Benavides in the JNE would be healthy for both institutions.
On the other hand, at a press conference, Delia Espinoza announced that he is waiting for the Public Ministry’s budget area to confirm whether the necessary resources are available to “support a possible return of Mrs. Benavides.”
As is known, in accordance with Law No. 32185, which approves the public sector budget for fiscal year 2025, the Public Ministry has assigned a budget of S/2,921 million. However, Espinoza has indicated that there is a gap of S/12,484 million, indicating an insufficiency to cover all the operational needs of the institution, so the budget would not be available to pay the salary of the investigated Patricia Benavides.
He also clarified that this year his management transformed the two transient Supreme Prosecutors specialized in crimes committed by public officials in permanent Supreme Prosecutors, this would not have influenced the budget approved by the Congress and the Executive.
