The Peruvian prosecutor asks to investigate President Pedro Castillo as “leader of a criminal organization”

Peru’s prosecutor’s office asked the Andean country’s judge on Wednesday to investigate President Pedro Castillo as a “leader of a criminal organization” rooted in the state obtain “illicit profits” from contracts stipulated by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Samuel Rojas, representative of the National Prosecutor’s Office, explained to the Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation of Peru the reasons why the Attorney General, Pablo Sánchez, opened a preliminary investigation against Castillo, when answering the question of “protection of rights” presented by his lawyer, Benji Espinoza, to cancel this trial.

“This is the first time a president in office He was accused of leading a criminal organization rooted in state possessions, “which he swore to defend once he took office, of” committing corruption crimes, “Rojas said during his presentation.

Rojas asked the room to assess the need to reconcile the articles of the Constitution which indicate, on the one hand, that the President of the Republic it can only be investigated for treason against the homeland or to prevent elections, while in office; while, on the other hand, it asks the state to fight against acts of corruption.

He added that the investigation against Castillo “did not arise from an accusation of a civil organization, nor from a member of Congress”, but of information “produced in tax investigations”following the irregularities reported to the Ministry of Transport and Communications regarding the award of a series of infrastructural works.

“This circumstance makes it necessary for the Public Prosecutor to adopt the measure to change the criteria, given the gravity of the accusations and the indications that make this accusation non-political, ”Rojas said.

The government defense has filed a lawsuit for the protection of rights before the National Prosecutor’s Office can question Castillo on the accusations that place him as responsible for organizing the assignment of the works to the entrepreneurs who collaborated in his electoral campaign and appoint officers related to this task.

The prosecution investigations they launched tests on the “existence of a state-run criminal organization that uses these contracts to obtain illegal advantages,” said Rojas.

“He is the first president of the state called to protect the national interest, accused of having committed crimes of bribery of officials”, he added.

several fugitives

In these trials, former minister Juan Silva, former secretary of the presidency Bruno Pacheco and a nephew of Castillo are currently reported and arrested.

In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office received testimonies from businessmen Karelim López and Zamir Villaverde, who admitted representing companies who has won awards and who presented audio in coordination with the accused officials.

Prosecutor Rojas also reported that there are audios that revealed that Villaverde gave 30,000 soles (about $ 8,000) to Silva to give to Castilloand, likewise, that they have indications that López gave the head of state a total of 155,000 soles (about $ 41,000) in the Government Palace and in a house he used during the election campaign.

For his part, the former secretary of Castillo, Bruno Pacheco, was accused asset imbalance just four months after taking that position and after the prosecution found $ 20,000 hidden in his office bathroom.

Castillo’s lawyer, Benji Espinoza, said the national prosecutor not competent to investigate the presidentsince he can only be accused during his tenure of treason against the country, to prevent elections, to dissolve Congress or to prevent the functioning of electoral bodies.

Spinoza added it Castillo received “discriminatory treatment” because no former president was investigated during his term and he cited the cases of Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Alan García (1985-1990, 2006-2011) and Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), accused of money laundering result of the corruption scandal of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

“We hope (the room) will declare my claim well founded, if the Constitution defends all Peruvians equally,” said the defense attorney.

Parallel to the judicial hearing, the Congressional Supervisory Commission approved the summons of the Peruvian president under investigationand no longer as a witness, in the investigation carried out on the meetings held by the president in a house in the district of Breña, in Lima, where he would have met officials and businessmen currently indicted.

Source: EFE

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