The first act of Petroperu consisted of canceling the international tender for the purchase of 280 thousand barrels of B100 biodiesel. So the state oil company decided to acquire only in the national market.
So, as the second act, he invited Peruvian companies Heaven Petroleum Operators (HPO), what management Samir Abudayeh Giha, already BioEnergy Peru, leadered by Luis Alfonso Zuniga, to present their respective offers, on October 26. On Monday, October 18, Abudayeh had met with the president Pedro Castillo. The general manager of Petroperú, Hugo Chávez, who was also in the Palace, denied having been part of the meeting.
As the third act, on October 28, one day after HPO Y BioEnergy Peru presented their proposals, Petroperú contacted the second company to indicate that he had allegedly detected a “material error” in his offer, for which he asked him to amend it. Petroperu He didn’t call on the phone, he did it by email, so BioEnergy Peru did not see the message. When he returned against the clock his corrected offer, the company told him it was too late. In 47 minutes, BioEnergy Peru had lost a contract of US $ 74 million.
Campus. Main office of the state oil company, in the financial district of San Isidro. Photo: Virgilio Grajeda / The Republic
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How is the play called?
The Republic had access to sources with full knowledge of the tender that investigates the Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Crimes of Corruption of Officials and was able to find out how Samir Abudayeh’s HPO won the millionaire contract through an extremely suspicious process, as we will see.
“On October 28, at 4 in the afternoon with 13 minutes, Petroperú sent an email to the company BioEnergy Peru, indicating that there was a misprint in its proposal, and that he had until 5 in the afternoon to answer him. So they only gave him 47 minutes to answer ”, reported sources familiar with the Petroperú bidding process.
However, just at 4:40 in the afternoon, BioEnergy Peru noticed Petroperú’s email by chance. Those in charge of the bidding Petroperú could have called by phone or sent a message by WhatsApp, but they preferred email.
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“BioEnergy Peru then had to run against time to change the formula presented and prepare another letter, as requested by Petroperú. Just at 5:18 p.m., the company sent the required information. They did not give him time, nobody is so quick to answer in minutes. Later, Petroperú communicated to BioEnergy Peru that he had lost the tender for responding too late. Petroperú had only given him 47 minutes ”, the sources explained.
The version obtained matches the report that the prosecutor Juan Cajas Huamán sent to the provincial prosecutor Norah Córdova, who later transferred the prosecutor of the Nation, Zoraida Avalos. It’s one of the reasons why on Wednesday the anti-corruption prosecutors re-entered the Petroperú headquarters and the Government Palace looking for documentary evidence.
Public Ministry, Petroperú
“What happened is not normal. It is impossible in a bidding process to give such short notice. In any case, they should have called by phone. It is unusual what happened, “said the sources.
But everything did not end here.
YOU CAN SEE: Castillo’s lawyer claims that the president met with Samir Abudayeh
When BioEnergy Peru asked Petroperú for details of the process, what offer it had won, they replied that it was not possible. “The tender is reserved,” they argued. Zero transparency.
“They never told BioEnergy Peru how much HPO from Samir Abudayeh had earned. They replied that it was confidential. It was the first time that BioEnergy Peru participated in a tender of these characteristics. He only showed up to supply the Conchán refinery and a part of Callao because BioEnergy Peru is not a very big company ”, indicated the sources.
Notwithstanding that the general manager of Petroperú, Hugo Chávez, announced that he would report on the tender under investigation, The oil company did not agree to La República’s requests for an interview to verify the information collected.
Plant. Petroperú has not yet reported why it named Samir Abudayeh’s HPO company as the winner of the contract. Photo: broadcast
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Abudayeh responds
In the case of HPO, the employer preferred to issue a statement rather than respond to requests for an interview.
“I categorically reject all the journalistic, whimsical and subjective versions that are being propagated day by day about my personal and professional life”, alleged Abudayeh, a Peruvian businessman of Palestinian origin.
“We have never had the need to resort to any act outside the law, no less go to intermediaries who carry out arrangements for us “, Indian.
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Abudayeh admitted that he had a meeting at the Government Palace with President Castillo on October 18, but that it was not for the Petroperú tender for the purchase of US $ 74 million of biodiesel that his company won on October 28.
“Accompanied by the specialist in Palma, the economist Gregorio Sáenz, (we explained) to the president the necessary agricultural expansion in the fight against drug trafficking through alternative planting of oil palm, explaining its benefits in eliminating poverty and generating thousands of jobs, ”said Abudayeh, owner of two important state suppliers, Heaven Petroleum Operators and Herco Combustibles.
Samir abudayeh did not comment on the testimony given in June of this year by the defendant Gianfranco Paredes, who revealed that the owner of HPO offered a lunch, liquors and women to the former president of the Callao Court Walter Ríos Montalvo, notorious leader of ‘The White Collars’. According to Ríos’s former adviser, Gianfranco Paredes, Abudayeh was seeking favors from the former head of the Chalaca court.
Samir abudayeh
YOU CAN SEE: Pedro Castillo: who is Samir Abudayeh, the supplier who would have visited him weeks before winning a tender
Shakespearean drama
On the other hand, while the prosecutors entered the Government Palace and Petroperú, in search of information that would clarify whether President Pedro Castillo influenced the hiring of Samir Abudayeh’s HPO, the head of state took advantage of the speech of a ceremony in the National Police to delimit the case of Petroperú.
“Let no one pretend to cast a shadow over our actions because we have a clean track record and we will not allow it to be tainted with false rumors or unfounded accusations. (…) Do not confuse us: It has been the dark deals and arrangements of the past that put Peru in check, It has been the corruption networks that led (us) into the abyss, ”said President Castillo.
On this occasion, the intervention of the Prosecutor’s Office in the Government Palace was different, at least according to the version of the Secretariat of Strategic Communication and Press: “In compliance with the disposition of the President of the Republic, all facilities have been given so that the representatives of the Public Ministry continue with their work. All the information and documentation requested by the team of prosecutors will continue to be delivered ”.
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But the anti-corruption prosecutor who participated in the investigation at the Government Palace, Reinaldo Abanto, reported actions of obstruction by officials of the Presidential Secretariat.
The purpose of prosecutor Abanto was to enter the office of the secretary of the head of state to obtain documentary evidence. However, he was blocked on the grounds that President Castillo is not in a condition to be investigated. Therefore, the prosecutor Abanto requested documentation that he expected to receive on Wednesday.
As happened the day before, he again got in the way the attorney for President Pedro Castillo, Eduardo Pachas. The lawyer insisted that the prosecutors were not authorized to enter.
YOU CAN SEE: Pedro Castillo: for what crimes would the president be investigated in the Petroperú case?
Prosecutor Norah Córdova justified entry to the Government Palace
“We seek to collect information from the Secretariat of the Presidential Office. We are talking about the entry and exit notebook, if there were cameras, the names of the people who were within that secretariat, to know who were part of the staff. We order everything from October and November. That was our claim, “said prosecutor Norah Córdova in an interview with Canal N.
Inquiries The prosecutor Reinaldo Abanto again reported acts of obstruction; however, the Government Palace denied it. Photo: broadcast
“What I want to be clear about is that the attorney for the President of the Republic, Eduardo Pachas, has declared that he has given us all the facilities. But that has not been the case, because the adviser to the president, Mr. Ernesto Salas, has signed an act stating that by orders of the President of the Republic, (Pedro) Castillo, he did not allow entry to the Presidential Office, ”he specified.
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Data
First step. Prosecutors need to establish if there is a cause and effect relationship in the meeting of President Castillo with Samir Abudayeh.
Second step. Then it must determine if there was a mandate from the head of state to Petroperú to award the contract to Abudayeh.
