A retiree whose monthly income comes from temporary jobs and the manager of a transportation company with a maximum income of S/5 thousand per month, contributed in total more than S/27,000 in cash to the Keiko Fujimori’s electoral campaign in 2021. In addition to the fact that their contributions do not match their economic capacity, the Money Laundering Prosecutor’s Office warns that these were divided and continuous for a month, which would show a typical pattern of “smurfing.”
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These are Alejandro Saldarriaga and Edwin Tuesta, the first made 17 deposits and the second 10. In total, both made 27 contributions equivalent to S/ 27,350.00 between February and March 2021. This sequence of contributions draws attention for two things. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the taxpayers would not have the necessary financial means to provide the amount attributed to them and the contributions were made in a fractional manner, which shows a typical pattern of smurfing, a common maneuver to avoid the thresholds for banking.
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In just one month, both Saldarriaga and Tuesta made contributions between S/500 and S/1,100. For the office of prosecutor Manuel Villa, “this irregular pattern shows an atypical contribution dynamic, which lacks economic naturalness and is not consistent with spontaneous, voluntary or reasonable behavior of party collaboration.” Furthermore, it would be a “deliberate strategy to disguise the origin of the money.”
Sequence of payments that would evidence a “smurfing” pattern. Photo: Prosecutor’s Office
Citizens would have been used as proxies
Nor would there be, according to the fiscal thesis, “visible economic justification” taking into account the income of both taxpayers.
Alejandro Saldarriaga declared that he was a manager of a transportation company, with income between S/ 4,500.00 and S/ 5,000.00 per month, but he did not present documentation to support that economic capacity, and “his asset declarations are inconsistent with the volume of registered contributions.” He appears as a contributor of S/18,350.
For his part, Edwin Tuesta Vásquez, retired since 2020, indicated that his income was informal and fluctuated between S/ 2,000.00 and S/ 3,000.00 per month. Despite this, he appears with ten contributions for a total of S/ 9,000.00, which would be unlikely given his economic profile. The investigation maintains that “a person in a situation of retirement from work and without a source of stable income can have that amount of cash available, repeatedly, for political purposes.”
For this reason, it concludes that both did not prove financial capacity or documentary support to justify such contributions, which is why “they would have acted as front men or fronts to lend names.”
Contributors who deny having contributed
Apart from having identified two alleged names, Manuela Villa’s office located a group of citizens attributed as contributors, but who deny having contributed. Both irregularities would have the objective of covering up the real source of S/1,309,770.00, channeled within the party between September 1, 2020 and July 30, 2021.
Of that figure, the party only officially reported to the ONPE an expense of S/1,286,058.00 and presented a list of contributions to justify the origin. In that list, a total of nine people were included as contributors in kind for a total of S/38,500 between June and July 2021, however, when consulted they denied having contributed. A contribution in kind refers to the delivery of a good or service (not cash).
They are: Fabiola Merchor (S/11, 000); Katherin Torres (S/5,500); Omar Moreyra (S/3,300); Roberto Alarcón (S/1,100); César Labajo (S/1,100); Aparicio Almeida (S/1,100); Fredy Rojas (S/1,100); Stephan Reusche (S/3,200) and Jorge Gastelu (S/1,100).
Contributions in kind
| Date | Name | Amount |
| 06/09/2021 | Fabiola Merchor | S/11, 000 |
| 06/11/2021 | Katherin Torres Montalvan | S/5,500 |
| 06/11/2021 | Omar Moreyra Moreyra | S/3,300 |
| 06/11/2021 | Roberto Alarcón Gómez | S/1,100 |
| 06/11/2021 | César Labajo Arévalo | S/1,100 |
| 06/11/2021 | Aparicio Almeida Vega | S/1,100 |
| 06/11/2021 | Fredy Rojas Chumbe | S/1,100 |
| 06/15/2021 | Stephan Reusche Ciriani | S/3,200 |
| 07/16/2021 | Jorge Gastelu Carbajal | S/1,100 |
| TOTAL | S/38,500 |
To mention a few cases, in their testimonial statements, Roberto Alarcón, Aparicio Almeida, Omar Moreyra and César Labajo expressly indicated that they did not make any type of contribution to the party (neither money nor property). Jorge Gastelú even sent a formal communication to the ONPE denying any contribution or authorization.
This “generates a specific suspicion of documentary simulation through the use of their identities without consent to legitimize covert economic operations,” indicates the tax thesis. Above all, taking into account that the supposed contributions in kind do not have banking or formal accounting records or documentary support.
