Fray Vásquez Castillo and Gian Marco Castillo Gómez appear to be the perfect link to involve the President of the Republic, Pedro Castillo Terrones, with the alleged acts of corruption in the tender made by Provias Descentralizado for the construction of a bridge over the Huallaga River, in the province of Mariscal Cáceres, San Martín Region.
The prosecution, the political opposition, and would-be effective collaborators need them to make the process nationally relevant. Only from their presence can it be affirmed that there is a criminal organization infiltrated in the State that reaches the president and that for that reason he must be emptied.
The evidence and statements of Karelim López Arredondo and the aspiring effective collaborator identified with N° CE-01-2020 compiled by the specialized prosecutor Karla Zecenarro Mongewhich involve the president’s nephews, met at the pre-trial detention hearings before Judge Manuel Chuyo Zavaleta and in the Second Criminal Court of Appeals of the Superior Court of Lima, presided over by Judge Bonifacio Meneses.
A first element that appears in the hearings is that neither Karelim López, nor CE-01-2020, nor the prosecution individualize them or individualize the actions in which they participated. The president’s nephews are always spoken of, in the plural, as if they were a single individual. Another element is that none of them seem to have their own voice, they do not request, demand, promote or require any act, benefit or compensation. The ralto paints them as puppets. Another or others pull the strings.
The prosecution says that they would be part of the organization, because “They would have taken advantage of their closeness to high-ranking State officials and in this way ensure that interested third parties are awarded the public tender 01-0221-MTV/12″.
But neither the collaborators nor the prosecution explain when, how and with whom those negotiations took place, and who were the captured businessmen. The prosecutor’s office uses the plural but so far only one tender has been discussed: the good pro from Puente Tarata III and the businessman Luis Pasapera Adrianzén.
In the hearings, the prosecution presents two incriminating facts against both nephews. The first, that after July 28, 2021, in which his uncle assumes the presidency, Fray Vásquez and Gian Marco Castillo used some vehicles of the Mazavig SAC company of Zamir Villaverde García. The use of these vehicles is proven by the income to the Government Palace. Gian Marco Castillo as driver and Fray Vásquez as occupant.
Secondly, that according to the government palace visit records, they were in the building when Zamir Villaverde entered the same office. It goes without saying that Villaverde entered to visit them and the nephews took him to President Castillo. The prosecution does not say so, because they have no evidence for it. This is what Karelim López says.
Elsewhere, it is also said that Villaverde went to the Government Palace to visit the secretary of the presidency, Bruno Pacheco. In the registry of visits, it was noted that the businessman visited the deputy secretary general of the presidential office, Ysmael Mayuri Quispe. On this point, it is said, for example, that this is a trick to cover up who was actually visiting.
These two facts, the use of the vehicles and the coincidence in the registry of visits, support the statement of Karelim López: “Zamir Villaverde begins to bring business friends to the nephews so that they can be the doors of access to the president… they took the businessman, they asked him what was the procedure or matter that they required, there were even telecommunications issues. The nephews made the president attend to the businessmen, that is, he received them and the nephews made arrangements for the president to authorize Juan Silva (minister of the MTC) what the businessmen requested… The nephews had full access to everything what was the MTC”.
López’s syndication is so generic that the Appeals Chamber uses it to revoke the preventive detention of Gian Marco Castillo. To do this, he compares what Karelim says with the declaration of the collaborator CE-01-2022. The latter declared:I want to point out that with respect to Zamir Villaverde García, said person was attracting businessmen to offer them works in the MTC, Provias Descentralizado and Provias Nacional, in exchange for sums of money, likewise, together with Fray Vásquez, they were summoning people they trusted, so that occupy important positions in the MTC, in order to direct the tenders”.
This collaborator does individualize one of the nephews, but in reference to convening trusted officials, not with the direction of a work, much less with orders or receipt of money. However, this mention of one of the nephews allows the appeals court to undermine the credibility of López’s statement and revoke Gian Marco’s preventive detention. At the same time, contradictorily, it gives it probative value to confirm the preventive detention of Fray Vásquez.
The judges conclude, from that single statement, that Vásquez would be involved, but they doubt about Gian Marco Castillo. They decide to believe one of the nephews and not the other. They separate the subjects, despite the fact that the prosecution presented them as a single verb.
This allows us to affirm that the court of appeals was able to revoke the preventive detention for both nephews., as was speculated in the judicial media in the days before the decision was known, but the political tone of this case would have weighed more. Fray Vásquez and Gian Marco Castillo have acknowledged that they used Zamir Villaverde’s vehicles. The businessman has said that on some occasions he rented them the vans and on others he lent them to them without any payment.
The difference between what the prosecution alleges, which is supported by Karelim López’s statement, and what collaborator CE-01-2022 says, is also not noted. The prosecution and López say that the nephews participated in the negotiations with the businessmen. The aforementioned collaborator points out that it was Zamir Villaverde who captured and asked for money from businessmen. He adds yes, that together with Fray Vásquez they summoned trusted officials. That is, he describes two different facts.
According to the defense of the nephews, Zamir Villaverde would have been using the Vásquez-Castillo cousins to get closer to the president and exert influence in the MTC. Whatever happened, there are no clues or evidence to prove one thing or another.
Entering the Government Palace in itself is not proof of an illegal act. Yes, it is cause for suspicion. Both nephews have been close to the president on the campaign trail. They are children of his sisters. They had lawful and justified reasons to visit the presidency. The prosecution must prove that these visits had other objectives and that the cousins would have participated in the negotiations and received benefits for the tenders, beyond the use of the vans of a third party.
Zamir Villaverde, who also seeks to benefit from effective collaboration, talks about payments to President Pedro Castillo, through Bruno Pacheco, without mentioning the nephews. Villaverde says that part of those payments were the $20,000 found in Bruno Pacheco’s office and the deposits in his bank accounts.
The other aspect that was taken into account to confirm the preventive detention was the lack of a real address on the part of Fray Vásquez. There is an audio where the nephew talks with a prosecutor to say that he wants to testify, but he does not know how to say his exact address. So why did he call him? Did a lawyer advise you for that call? Without that call would the lack of an arraigo have been proven?
Until all this is clarified, both will continue in the process. One with an appearance and the other with a national and international arrest warrant. Being a fugitive does not help clarify his situation. feed the suspicion. To further complicate the legal situation, there is the investigation carried out by prosecutor Luz Taquire for acts of corruption and money laundering.
Both investigations are different but have practically the same facts and protagonists. The preventive detention occurred in the investigation carried out by the prosecutor specializing in crimes of corruption of officials, Karla Zecenarro. The money laundering prosecutor Luz Taquire Reynoso, in the special process to corroborate the declaration of the aspiring effective collaborator Karelim López, only requested an appearance with an impediment to leave the country.
The prosecutors for corruption cases, under the coordination of the superior prosecutor Omar Tello, and those for money laundering, headed by the superior prosecutor Rafael Vela, seem to be in competition in the legal persecution of President Castillo.
Karla Zecenarro began the investigation in November 2021: Taquire was ahead of her with the effective collaboration of Karelim López. Zecenarro once again took the lead with the preventive detention of Bruno Pacheco, Zamir Villaveder, Luis Pasapera, Provias Descentralizado officials and the president’s nephews.
Now, Luz Taquire summoned President Pedro Castillo, First Lady Lilia Paredes, President of the Council of Ministers, Aníbal Torres, and former ministers Juan Silva, Juan Carrasco and others to testify.
In addition, both sent separate reports to the National Prosecutor’s Office to investigate President Castillo, former ministers and former congressmen. In the middle of these two investigations, are the two nephews of the president. One 30 years old and the other 23 years old. Both without any experience in public administration and in dealings with justice, unlike the others involved in the plot: Zamir Villaverde, Karelim López, Luis Pasapera and Bruno Pacheco.
