An audio transcript that records a conversation between Salatiel Marrufo Alcantara and businessman Zamir Villaverde García, surreptitiously recorded by him on October 2, 2021, was decisive in the Judge Víctor Zúñiga’s decision to impose 30 months in prison for members of the so-called ‘shadow cabinet’.
The document offered by the Special Team of Prosecutors against Corruption was so important that Judge Zúñiga took the trouble to read the dialogue that proves the existence of a criminal network that surrounded the president peter castlewhich took over key positions in the Ministry of Housing and Construction and in the Ministry of Transport and Communications with the express purpose of setting up bids and contracts.
According to the transcript, there were two groups within President Castillo’s ‘shadow cabinet’ related to public works project bids:
a) The countrymen of the president, chotanos for better signs: the mayor of Anguía, Nenil Medina Guerrero, businessman Segundo Sánchez Sánchez and former adviser Auner Vásquez Cabrera. Also included in this group are the president’s nephews, Gian Marco Castillo Gómez and Fray Vásquez Castillo.
b) The group known as ‘Los Chiclayanos’, which was made up of Salatiel Marrufo Alcántara, Abel Cabrera Fernández and Geiner Alvarado López. The three are classmates at the Pedro Ruiz Gallo University in Chiclayo. These were linked to Pedro Castillo through Salatiel Marrufo, who was mayor Nenil Medina’s lawyer.
Inside the so-called ‘shadow cabinet’ were also the advisers to the president, such as Biberto Castillo León, Beder Camacho Gadea, Henry Shimabukuru Guevara and Eder Vitón Burga. But these people were not related to the tenders but to operations to hinder the action of justice against the relatives and close associates of Pedro Castillo.
through the mouth dies
In reading the audio transcript of the dialogue between Salatiel Marrufo and Zamir Villaverde, Judge Víctor Zúñiga pointed out, the concertation of the defendants to direct the contracting of public works was exposed, especially in the Ministry of Housing and Construction, where Geiner Alvarado was appointed as head of the office and Salatiel Marrufo as head of the Cabinet of Advisors. Two transcendental charges to manipulate the bids.
Marrufo and Villaverde discuss the need to come to an agreement because each group promoted the interests of different businessmen. In the end, Marrufo, who was the operator of the countrymen and friends of the president, reached the following consensus with Villaverde: “Now, compadre, we’re not going to fight. The one who plates (a work) shares it”.
The following excerpt confirms that they plotted to share the business:
-Marrufo: What does Francia (Fray Vásquez) tell you about Abel (Cabrera)? How’s she doing? Are they okay together? Aren’t they fighting?
-Villaverde: No, no, no, not at all. They two are fine. What is true is that Fray (Vásquez) has come with you and with (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez Sánchez), I think.
-Marrufo: No, I have already told the Phoenix (Abel Cabrera). Just in case, with Abel (Cabrera), (Segundo) Alejandro (Sánchez) and Fray (Vásquez) they are on the subject of waterWell, egg. From the play!
-Villaverde: The billion project?
-Marrufo: Of course! They have to shake off. They have to talk, because in the group we can’t get shit out of it. But the question is why (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez) is on his side and with his company?
-Villaverde: Alejandro from the house (from Sarratea, where President Castillo held clandestine meetings)?
-Marrufo: Of course!
-Villaverde: But don’t you say that he is not a builder?
-Marrufo: No, but he has searched for millions, well.
Villaverde: Oh yeah!
Indeed, the groups of Salatiel Marrufo and Zamir Villaverde distributed millionaire public works projects.
It is also clear from the dialogue that Friar Vasquez Castillo, by order of President Castillo, presented Salatiel Marrufo to Zamir Villaverde. Geiner Alvarado and Salatiel Marrufo were appointed to the Ministry of Housing to direct the public works. Zamir Villaverde would fulfill the role of recruiter of construction companies and businessmen interested in receiving public works in exchange for bribes.
But the countrymen of the president and ‘Los Chiclayanos’ had their own interests, as can be seen in the following excerpt:
Hand over fist
-Marrufo: Who is not going to want to get involved (in the tenders)! I tell Abel (Cabrera): ‘Hey, compare, you have to shake your head’. (…) So, I touch on the subject and (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez) continues with the subject of him. I tell him: ‘Hey, Geiner (Alvarado, former Minister of Housing), this is bullshit that can cause us internal problems. Let’s call them both: to (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez) and to the asshole of Ave Fénix (Abel Cabrera) and to Fray (Vásquez). Here let them unravel with us’. And we have called them both to the Ministry (of Housing). I tell him: ‘Alejandro, let’s see, you are with your company and Fray (Vásquez) is with his company, with a leg of Fray (Vásquez). We know him, we get along very well, fucking good! But you agree. How the hell is it going to be?’ and there Francia (Fray Vásquez) told me ‘No, well, asshole, Zamir (Villaverde) has already given up’. ‘Not that I know of,’ I tell him. ‘Here they have remained’. ‘Now, compare, we’re not going to fight. He who plates (a work) shares (it)’. ‘Ok, ready, no fights, no fights. The one who ensures shares. But if we’re going to fight between the two of us, we sit down again and agree on who’s going’… And since he would have his control, I’m telling you, because with you I trust.
-Villaverde: (…) For me the UNOPS (the United Nations agency that executes tenders at the request of public entities) is yuca. How would you control it?
-Marrufo: Zamir, listen to me. You have experience in this bullshit (contracting with the State). (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez) is jerking off with this shit.
-Villaverde: Yes, but how does he intend to win (the bid)?
-Marrufo: Well, he doesn’t know shit. (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez) has been approached by a company. (…) What’s more, we are going to play for France (Fray Vásquez).
-Villaverde: Of course, I also prefer to make France win (Fray Vásquez).
-Marrufo: Why? For one simple reason. Because we already know you, well, asshole. I don’t know who the hell the people of (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez) will be.
-Villavarde: Apart from the fact that (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez) plates and eats alone. He doesn’t give us anything, that asshole, to us.
-Marrufo: No, no. And be very clear about this, Zamir. In this bullshit (the tenders) have it very clear. We are going to play with the people we know. We are not going to play with strangers. Not even shitting, well dude.
-Villaverde: For security too, well.
-Marrufo: For security. Now we have called (Second) Alejandro (Sánchez) to tell him ‘just in case, Alejandro, there is another company, there are other people interested in your business, don’t think you are alone’. Alejandro doesn’t know shit about public procurement. He doesn’t know anything, brother, he’s lost in the field.
For Judge Víctor Zúñiga, the The dialogue between Salatiel Marrufo and Zamir Villaverde clearly manifests the criminal purpose of the groups close to President Castillo.
Remember that At that time, Marrufo was nothing less than the head of the Cabinet of Advisors to Minister Geiner Alvarado. Members of the accused criminal organization, according to the Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption of Power, were entrenched in the Executive by Castillo’s decision.
Villaverde, as part of the criminal organization, ensured that budgets for public works were availableas he told Marrufo:
-Villaverde: Then, we would be working. Just give the budget to my compadre.
-Marrufo: I already have it, now… November (2021) we are putting money into it and suddenly sooner. Change to Sedapal and we put the money.
-Villaverde: So, one thing. These 900 million have not escaped us… I am still in the lead and I am going to introduce you to her husband. I mean, you understand me, right? I’m going to introduce you to his wife, there it is more direct.
Marrufo: If you see me on the street, you don’t recognize me!
Villaverde: Yes, brother.
In this business there was only talk of millions.
Fugitive Segundo Sánchez knows everything
Before fleeing, Segundo Sánchez Sánchez, the financier and friend of President Pedro Castillo, affirmed that the accusations were unfounded and defended the head of state and his nephews, Gian Marco Castillo Gómez and Fray Vásquez Castillo.
However, the transcript of the audio that Judge Víctor Zúñiga read shows that Sánchez took advantage of his closeness to the president to do his own, presumably illicit, business.
While before the media he maintained that he was a modest businessman who had supported Castillo by giving him his address on Calle Sarratea, the truth is that Segundo Sánchez had set up a network of corruption by manipulating public tendersboth for your benefit and that of other businessmen.
Sánchez’s business was medical equipment, but he also ventured into public works.
Zamir Villaverde: “Sánchez (owner of the house in Sarratea) plates (works) and eats alone. He doesn’t give us anything, that asshole, to us”.