The attorney general of Peru, Patricia Benavides, presented this Tuesday before Congress a constitutional complaint against the president of the republic, Pedro Castillo, whom she accused of criminal organization and influence peddling, among other crimes, which could lead to a trial politician to the president.
Parallel, prosecutors raided the homes of six legislators and a sister of Castillo and issued a preliminary arrest warrant against six of his collaboratorswhile the Police revealed alleged efforts by the president so that a former secretary of his, accused of various crimes and in preventive detention, obtain asylum in Venezuela.
“The Nation’s prosecutor, Patricia Benavides, presented the constitutional complaint against the president of the republic, Pedro Castillo, through a letter entered this afternoon at the table of parts (entries) of the Congress of the Republic”reported the Public Ministry on Twitter.
“In the Public Ministry we are convinced that equality before the law demands that everyone respond for their actions as a key part of the administration of justice; our country lives plagued by corruption and it is our duty to eradicate it”, Benavides said in a televised message in which he announced the presentation before the Legislative, according to the Lima newspaper La República.
The complaint also reaches Juan Silva and Geiner Alvarado, who were part of Castillo’s cabinet as Ministers of Transport and Communications and Housing, respectively.
Benavides unified two cases and argued in the He denounces that the head of state committed the crimes of influence peddling and criminal organization by handing over the millionaire project for the construction of the Tarata III Bridge and in the purchase of biodiesel by the state company Petroperú.
The Prosecutor’s Office has entered my sister’s house. My mother is there. This abusive act has affected her health.
I hold the Attorney General’s Office responsible for the health of my mother.– Pedro Castillo Terrones (@PedroCastilloTe) October 11, 2022
He was also charged with aggravated collusion and influence peddling in the case of the appointment of Hugo Chávez Arévalo as general manager of the state oil company.
In accordance with current legislation, The Nation’s prosecutor can only investigate the president in office but not formally accuse him. Congress is the one that has the power to sanction a constitutional accusation, which can lead to the impeachment of the president and eventually to his suspension, removal or even disqualification for public service.
The prosecutor had opened four investigations into the head of state for alleged acts of corruption, all of them related to an alleged mafia installed in the government, suspected of granting public works in exchange for economic benefits.
In the context of these investigations, the Public Ministry carried out several operations today.
This Tuesday morning the homes and offices of six congressmen from the opposition party Acción Popular (AP, center) known as “Los Niños” were raided, preliminary investigated in another case by the alleged criminal network that directed tenders in the Ministry of Transport and Communications .
For this case, Castillo and Silva, who remains a fugitive, are also being investigated for the alleged crime of criminal organization.
In parallel, The Prosecutor’s Office executed the preliminary arrest warrant against the so-called “shadow advisers”, a group of six people close to the president who would have benefited from public works and appointments in ministries and directions.
Only one of them, Alejandro Sánchez, was not found by the authorities at his home in Lima, where Castillo is suspected of holding meetings that were not recorded in the official agenda of activities.
The house of the president’s sister was also raided, where the authorities were looking for Gianmarco Castillo, the ruler’s nephew.
“The Prosecutor’s Office has entered my sister’s house, my mother is there, this abusive act has affected her health; I hold the Attorney General’s Office responsible for the health of my mother,” said the head of state On twitter.
The investigation against the president arose after a report by a local television station in which he was accused of being behind a corruption scheme to favor construction companies and consortiums in public works processes.
Also, in the afternoon, Local media released a report from the Special Police Team that supports the Prosecutor’s Office, in which it is stated that Castillo called the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, to ask him to give asylum to his former secretary Bruno Pacheco in that country.then a fugitive, accused of several crimes and currently in preventive detention at his home.
According to that report, the objective of the asylum was to prevent Pacheco from collaborating with the Peruvian Public Ministry in investigations that affect the president.
In fact, Pacheco is now seeking to become an “effective collaborator” with the Prosecutor’s Office, according to the newspaper El Comercio.
Castillo’s lawyer, Benji Espinoza, stated to RPP radio that the prosecutor’s office’s constitutional complaint “flatly” violates the legislation and judicial resolutions, for which he announced that he would file “a constitutional claim for protection” before the Supreme Court, “because The fundamental rights of the president are being affected by this arbitrary and despotic action by the Public Ministry.”
