The spokeswoman of Somos Peru, Ana Zegarra, spoke. It took five days to respond to the complaint against him.
At a press conference she accepted that she coordinated a help that Blanca Ríos was going to give her for proselytizing jobs. It was November 2023. He was not yet a congressman. I worked as coordinator of the parliamentarian Hitler Saavedra. When he died, she replaced him in office.
“I have had conversations yes (with Blanca Ríos), to give information, to transfer the concerns, to be able to give communications, all with reference to it,” he said this morning at a press conference.
He accepted that he made coordinations with Ríos and sent his bank account number.
Then, he acknowledged that it was a mistake to accept that help. She said that the businesswoman knew that she carried out proselytizing activities, in parallel to her work as a coordinator. But he said that this economic support did not materialize.
“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 activities and social activities in my region. And at the time the lady showed that predisposition. But they are things that were not specified,” he said.
Zegarra explained that Ríos first presented himself as coordinator of a group of entrepreneurs. But at the conference she called her businesswoman.
Gets off his former worker
On the dismissal of Narum Hidalgo, extrabajador of his office, he said it was an act of transparency. He is mentioned in the complaint of the payment of S/150 thousand in coimas for an irrigation work in Cajamarca.
“Precisely, to have transparency, we talk to Mr. Narum to take a step to the side and he also has to search, in this case, solve the concerns,” he said.
He added that on the alleged reception of the coimas by Hidalgo, “he is the one who must respond to the press.”
The complaint was filed on Sunday in Panorama. Blanca Ríos claimed to have delivered S/150 thousand to include an irrigation work in Cajamarca in the Congress budget. According to his testimony, payments were made through accounts linked to Zegarra and his surroundings, including Hidalgo.
Ríos said that Zegarra asked him for money to finance campaign items such as caps and poles. She was still a parliamentary advisor. He showed chats, audios and transfers by YAPE and bank deposits.
Zegarra reacted last Friday and separated Hidalgo after Panorama advanced the social networks report. The decision was made a day before the election of the Board of Directors, in which José Jerí was elected president. He is also mentioned by Ríos in the alleged plot of Caima.
Jerí in the sights
In the complaint, Blanca Ríos said he met José Jerí in the entrance room to Congress, but not in his office. Therefore, your visit was not registered. That is precisely the defense of the current head of Parliament, who denies knowing her.
“If you have already fixed this, do not worry, this is going to leave,” is the phrase that Ríos claims to have heard of the then president of the Budget Commission, José Jerí.
According to Ríos, he finally paid S/150 thousand, but it was scammed: the promised work was not included in the budget of the Ministry of Economy, as Ana Zegarra and Jerí would have assured him.
The case has unleashed a strong reaction in Congress. Several banks evaluate to denounce Zegarra before the Ethics Commission, not only for this complaint, but also for movements in their bank accounts and for having hidden three previous criminal sentences.
Zegarra already faces an ethical investigation for alleged proselytism in Loreto, on March 28. Its history includes condemnations for ideological falsehood, falsification of documents and false statement, which could disable it to apply in 2026.
On the complaints of ideological falsehood and false statement, he explained to journalists that it is a personal issue related to their youngest daughter, for a birth inscription, and that both correspond to the same fact.
For now there is no motion of censure against Jerí, but congressmen of Avanza Country, Popular Force and Honor and Democracy analyze supporting the mechanism if any bench raises it, in order to take it from the position. Others, on the other hand, consider that the case must first go through the Ethics Commission.
The complaint has also generated citizen rejection. Jerí was booed on Tuesday at the Monterrico Racecourse, a reflection of a social malaise that could increase.
At the same time, the president of the Congress faces a tax investigation for a complaint of rape, a fact that he claims to be innocent.
This story, without a doubt, just begins.
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