Nahum Hidalgo is upset by the way she was treated by Somos Peru’s congressman, Ana Zegarra. And not only that: his role in this story could take an unexpected turn.
Last Thursday, he was suspended by the legislator after the scandal exploded for an alleged payment of coimas related to works, revealed by Panorama.
According to his version – given in an interview with Peru21, his separation was unfair, since he was not allowed to defend himself or demonstrate his innocence.
Hidalgo served as an advisor in that office since July 2021, when he was still occupied by Congressman Hitler Saavedra. After the death of Saavedra at the end of 2024, Zegarra – then accessitary – assumed the seat and subsequently became spokeswoman for the bench.
Now, Hidalgo not only requires being replaced – he has given a week – but he is also willing to tell all his truth.
In communication with Peru21Hidalgo said that he did not receive “not a sun” from the Blanca Ríos businesswoman, as part of an alleged payment of coima related to an irrigation work in Cajamarca – or another similar – to be included in the investment plan of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
That plan would be reviewed by the Budget Commission in 2023, when it was chaired by the head of the Congress, José Jerí, according to the version related by Ríos in Panorama.
Blanca Ríos and the “more than S/100 thousand”
Hidalgo told this newspaper that she met Blanca Ríos around October 2023, when she went to the office of then congressman Hitler Saavedra – who died in 2024 and was replaced by her accessory Ana Zegarra – with a punctual order: that a list of works was included in the MEF investment plan. Among them, it was one in Cajamarca.
At that time, he served as an advisor in the office of Congressman Saavedra.
According to Hidalgo, the businesswoman confessed that she had already delivered “more than S/100 thousand” to Alexis Alván, a key actor in this complaint.
“She calls me on the phone and tells me that she is Mrs. Blanca … and that there is a man named Alexis Alván who is charging in your and congressman’s name (Hitler Saavedra) … that he was taking our names, he told me that,” he said.
“How much money told you to give Alván? We asked him.”
– “She mentioned more than 100,000 soles,” Hidalgo replied.
“I’m going to give you, I’m going to give you”
Hidalgo said the businesswoman talked about deposits and, therefore, asked for evidence.
“She talks there about deposits … she was so sure she had made the deposits to Mr. Alván.”
“For what work? We consult Hidalgo.”
“He didn’t tell me work, but works – but several -” he replied.
Then, the exassor demanded the vouchers A to formalize a complaint. But Ríos, according to him, only said: “I’m going to give you, I’m going to give you.” In the end, he never showed him anything.
What did Hitler Saavedra know?
The exassor states that neither he nor Congressman Saavedra knew about those alleged payments. However, he ensures that the request would have been derived by the congressman to the Budget Commission, as he did with any citizen application, and that the letter reached the office before he met Ríos.
After informing the congressman about what happened, Saavedra gave him a green light to collect the information and file the corresponding complaint.
Alván’s version
In parallel, Hidalgo communicated with Alexis Alván, whom he knew since his years as a student at the University of the Amazon. According to Hidalgo, I had not seen it for almost 20 years, and – although it sounds difficult to believe – they met again in Saavedra’s office.
Alván denied him to have received money from Ríos and, on the contrary, he said that he would have given the businesswoman S/20 thousand. Hidalgo did not explain to this media why that money would have been.
According to its version, when the work was finally included, Blanca Ríos went to the office to demand that they return his money.
Meetings without witnesses
Hidalgo acknowledged that Alván visited the congressman Hitler Saavedra several times between August and September 2023.
He confirmed that both were friends, and that they met alone in their office, without the presence of advisors or Ana Zegarra, then coordinator of the office.
“Only they know what they talked about,” he said.
Willing to declare
Hidalgo said he was willing to declare before the Ethics Commission and reveal all the details of his meetings with Blanca Ríos. He also said he was surprised when, at a press conference, Ana Zegarra acknowledged that the businesswoman offered her financial support for her proselytizing campaign. According to her, the contribution never concretized and was “just a mistake.”
He assures that her meetings with the businesswoman took place at the door of the hospice headquarters, on Ancash Avenue, one block from the Legislative Palace, in the center of Lima.
Ríos and José Jerí
Peru21 He tried to communicate with Blanca Ríos to confront their statements, without success. However, in an interview with Panorama, Ríos said he met José Jerí, then president of the Budget Commission and current head of the Congress. According to her, Jerí would have told her: “If you have fixed this, it will come out,” in reference to the work in Cajamarca.
Zegarra accepts that he coordinated with Ríos
Last Wednesday, Ana Zegarra offered a press conference in which she acknowledged that she coordinated economic aid with Blanca Ríos, when she was not yet a congressman, but Coordinator of Hitler Saavedra’s office, in November 2023.
“I have had conversations, yes (with Blanca Ríos), to give information, to transfer concerns, to be able to give communications, all with reference to it,” he said.
Zegarra confirmed that he sent his bank account number, and acknowledged that it was a mistake to accept that possible help. He said that the businesswoman knew that she carried out proselytizing activities, but that the contribution never concretized.
“I am a congressman of the Republic since October 2024. I will recognize an error. That is very true. Mrs. Ríos), at the time, as a coordinator, told me that I wanted to support me because I knew that I did political and social activities in my region. He showed that predisposition. But they are things that were not specified,” he said.
Shielding in progress?
In Congress, many times the tests and votes do not matter. They are the ones who decide whether a congressman ends up sanctioned or armored in the Ethics Commission or in the subcommission of constitutional accusations.
Will this be the chronicle of an announced armor?
