The Judiciary ordered the definitive extinction of ownership over more than S/1.6 million belonging to the founder of Perú Libre, Vladimir Cerrón Rojas, considering it proven that the funds do not have legal origin. The Appeals Chamber Specialized in Domain Forfeiture of Lima confirmed that the money deposited in two bank accounts of Cerrón, one in BBVA and the other in Interbank, will be transferred to the Peruvian State.
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The judicial decision is based on accounting expertise No. 401-2022, prepared by the Public Ministry, which detected an asset imbalance of more than S/6 million between the years 2008 and 2021. According to the ruling, Cerrón could not justify the origin of the deposits or demonstrate legal income that explains the growth of his assets.
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The ruling indicates that the funds were linked to money laundering operations, executed through cash deposits, cross transfers and use of mutual funds. The court specified that these movements are part of the financial pattern of a criminal organization allegedly inserted in the Peru Libre party.
During the process, Cerrón alleged that the forfeiture of ownership was inadmissible due to the lack of a final criminal sentence, invoking Law No. 32326, which modifies Legislative Decree 1373. However, the Court rejected this argument considering that the events occurred before the legal modification, so the original rule that does not require a prior conviction is applied.
The Prosecutor’s Office accredited an imbalance of more than S/6 million in Cerrón’s assets
The court held that the asset forfeiture process is constitutional and autonomous with respect to the criminal process, in line with the recent interpretation of the Constitutional Court. He pointed out that its purpose is to recover assets of illicit origin, especially when those involved are part of criminal structures that seek to hide or convert money obtained from acts of corruption.
Following this line, the Domain Forfeiture Prosecutor’s Office demonstrated that the seized money came from suspicious operations carried out in the Caja Huancayo and in commercial banks, including deposits of up to S/1 million in cash during 2020. These operations, according to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF-Peru), lack economic support and are not related to the income declared by Cerrón.
The accounting expertise also revealed that the former governor of Junín declared zero initial assets in 2008, but closed his administration with more than S/680 thousand in financial placements. The Judiciary considered that this increase, added to his previous convictions for corruption, reinforces the hypothesis of the illicit origin of his funds.
