Operator of the 'Club del Tarot' implicates Karelim López with the Chinese

On Friday, April 1 of this year, a former employee of the Díaz Costa family, a well-known State supplier, appeared before the Anti-Corruption Attorney’s Office to reveal incriminating information about rigged bids, fraudulent hiring, and bribe payments. He is the same character who would later offer his experience to other companies to infiltrate the computer system of the State Procurement Supervisory Body (OSCE), and award millionaire public works to its clients of the so-called ‘Tarot Club’, as the program ‘Punto final’, from Latina Television, called it on Sunday night.

The Republic had access to the full statement of the 23-year-old, who stated that he dropped out of high school to dedicate himself to learning how to manipulate state tenders for the benefit of his employers, those who were related to the Chinese construction company Weihai Construction Group, whose representative is Marco Antonio Díaz Costa. Weihai Construction Group, in consortium with China Railway No. 10 Engineering, obtained the contract for the construction of a hospital in Puno for S / 329.3 million, on June 19, 2020, but later it was discovered that it presented false documents. For this case, the ex-governor of Puno Agustín Luque is imprisoned and the representative of the Chinese consortium, Chen Junkun, is at large.

Fugitive. Chen Junku, representative of Weihai Construction Group, is absent. Photo: diffusion

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In first person

The operator of the ‘Club del Tarot’ told the authorities that Weihai Construction Group is related to the effective collaborator Karelim López. He said that his center of operations was the second floor of Boulevard 594, in San Borja, which is precisely the address of several of the companies of the spouses Manuel María Díaz Mego and Margarita Díaz Costa, and their children Marco Antonio, Julio César, Renato Díaz Costa, among other brothers. The witness worked for the first of these.

The operator of the ‘Club del Tarot’ recounted:

“I was the right hand, I was the operator, I handled the accounts, I handled the signatures. From the age of 18. (…) I was a figurehead, I was a figurehead, a puppet of the Díaz Costa family. (…) The person of Marco Antonio Díaz Costa was the one who initiated the registration of his Chinese company, which is called Weihai Construction Group. It is a company that is currently linked to (the president) Pedro Castillo and Karelim López. (…) Weihai is a company that has a record for false documents.”

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The witness provided emails, photographs, WhatsApp chats, documents, videos and audios of his meetings with the Díaz Costas, material that supports his testimony.

According to the Registry of State Suppliers, indeed, Marco Antonio Díaz Costa appears as a representative of Weihai Construction Group. During the Castillo government, the Chinese construction company obtained two contracts: the first, on November 15, 2021, with the Social Health Insurance, for S/275.2 million, and the second, on January 20 of this year, with the National Health Investment Program (Pronis), for S/26 million.

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verified information

The Republic verified by Public Records that On September 12, 2018, father and son, Manuel María Díaz Mego and Marco Antonio Díaz Mego, registered as partners and founders of the representation in Peru of Weihai Construction Group, which confirms the testimony of the witness before the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

Said the operator of the ‘Club del Tarot’ about Karelim López and her relationship with Chinese construction companies. He mentioned another person, Ricardo Renato Beteta Luza, as part of the organization:

“Karelim (López) I understand that the link is through Renato Beteta (Luza). Renato Beteta is also linked to the governor (Elmer) Cáceres (Llica), from Arequipa. He (Beteta) is the lobbyist. He is a person who, if the Prosecutor’s Office intervenes, will talk about everything. In the world of bidding they call him ‘Ñoño’, because he is chubby and very talkative. He is a person who, if you go to a nightclub, you give him a beer (chela) and he tells you (any) case”.

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“What would be the relationship of this man (Renato Beteta Luza) with Karelim (Lopez)?”, They Asked.

“The bids. It is that this gentleman (Beteta) is a lobbyist. He has been in the State for years, ”he replied.

The Republic verified that on July 9, 2019, during the management of the then governor of Arequipa, Elmer Cáceres, Weihai Construction Group won a contract for S/11.8 million, confirming the version of the operator.

Links. Since before the Castillo Government, López already had relations with the Chinese. Photo: diffusion

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Once the testimony was received by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, it transferred the case to the coordinator of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, the superior prosecutor Omar Tello, who then assigned the investigation to prosecutor Renzo Huamán.

Yesterday, Monday morning, precisely the prosecutor Huamán led an intervention in the central headquarters of the State Procurement Supervisory Agency (OSCE), in Jesus Maria. It was after the program ‘Punto final’ revealed on Sunday night that the operator of ‘Club del Tarot’ had sold his experience to other construction companies.

What he was offering at a cost of US$30,000 was a mechanism to infiltrate the OSCE computer system, so that at the last minute he could submit an offer at a lower amount compared to the other companies that had submitted their proposals earlier.

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According to ‘Punto final’, one of the contacts of the ‘Club del Tarot’ operator was Alexander Aguilar Quispe, brother of the owners of Project Integration Engineering (INIP), linked to Chinese construction companies.

Among the processes that the operator of the ‘Club del Tarot’ adulterated, according to the investigation of the journalistic program of Latina, is the improvement of the Castrovirreyna Hospital (Huancavelica), on July 23, 2021, for S/ 52 million, which was awarded to the consortium made up of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and INIP, of the Aguilar Quispe. Also, the technical study for the improvement of the Ayacucho-Cusco highway, which was awarded to China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, on December 10, 2019, for S/ 9 million.

These events were recorded before the Government of Pedro Castillo.

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But according to investigations by prosecutors Karla Zecenarro and Luz Taquire, during the administration of former Minister of Transportation Juan Silva Villegas, Chinese construction companies, generally associated with the Aguilar Quispe companies, and through Zamir Villaverde Garcia, they won millionaire contracts again.

The prosecutors Zecenarro and Taquire investigate the adjudication of the construction of the Tarata III Bridge, whose lobbyist was Karelim López, for S/ 232.5 million, and another 7 contracts of the Aguilar Quispe brothers with Chinese construction companies for S/ 804.5 million. The 8 contracts were consummated during the management of Juan Silva.

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Due to the importance of the information handled by the ‘Club del Tarot’ operator, The Special Prosecutor for Corruption Crimes of Public Officials should guarantee the integrity of the informant. In his same statement, he pointed out that the Díaz Costas intended to denounce him as the author of the fraud, to save themselves from criminal responsibility.

Probably, this threat from his employers could have triggered the informant’s decision to tell everything to the authorities. What he has related brings to light corruption in public tenders.

Manuel María Díaz Mego, Marco Antonio Díaz Costa and Ricardo Renato Beteta Luza. Photo: LR composition

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Prosecutor intervened OSCE in search of evidence

The representative of Weihai Construction Group, Marco Antonio Díaz Costa, consulted by La República, stated that he did not have time available for an interview about the statements of the so-called operator of the ‘Club del Tarot’.

Díaz pointed out that it was through a challenge that he won the contract of the construction of the Altiplano Hospital, and not through payments to the operator of the ‘Club del Tarot’.

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The Supervisory Agency for State Procurement (OSCE) was intervened on Monday by the Specialized Prosecutor for Corruption of Officials in search of evidence about the ‘Club del Tarot’.

OSCE reported that it has made available to the prosecutor Renzo Huamán all the information required to determine responsibilities for the adulteration of bidding processes.

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