The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, faces a new scandal after her brother, Nicanor Boluarte, and his lawyer, Mateo Castañeda, were arrested in the early hours of this Friday in Lima.
As reported by the Judiciary in a statement, the First National Preparatory Investigation Court ordered the preliminary detention for ten days of both in the framework of an investigation for the alleged crimes of influence peddling and criminal organization.
The court also authorized the search of several properties in the Peruvian capital.
Local media reported that police officers searched Nicanor Boluarte’s house in the Lima district of San Borja and around twenty homes in other places.
The Judiciary said that those investigated are “charged with criminal organization and influence peddling for alleged influence in the appointment of subprefects to finance a criminal network (sic) and achieve the collection of signatures for the registration of a political party” linked to the Chairwoman.
According to the accusation, Nicanor Boluarte would have influenced the appointment of positions in the department of Cajamarca and in state organizations so that people willing to contribute financially were elected. to the corrupt network he was trying to create.
He would also have demanded their collaboration in collecting signatures and the necessary procedures to register a new political party.
The Prosecutor’s Office accuses the lawyer Castañeda of having tried to deactivate the ongoing investigation into the president’s brother by offering her protection to the police commanders who communicated relevant information in this regard.
Castañeda advises the president in a case of alleged illicit enrichment due to the use of luxurious Rolex brand watches and high jewelry items.
Another scandal in Peruvian politics
Without directly referring to the news of the arrest of his two close friends, Boluarte said this Friday at a public event: “We are not going to be distracted by minor matters.”
President Boluarte has not escaped the long tradition of Peruvian leaders persecuted by the shadow of corruption.
The arrests of his brother and his lawyer add to the case of luxury watches and jewelrywhich forced her to have to testify before the Prosecutor’s Office, which also ordered the search of her house in Lima.
In that case, the Peruvian prosecutor’s office accuses her of illicitly enriching herself and for omitting to declare the jewelry in her asset reports.
The investigation began after the media La Encerrona revealed that some of the watches with which Boluarte had been shown in public were luxurious Rolexes valued at tens of thousands of dollars.
More recently, the weekly Hildebrandt en sus thirteen published that the president had suspended her schedule for days after undergoing cosmetic surgery.
Corruption scandals are common in Peru and often one of the factors that contribute to the premature fall of its presidents.
Boularte is the country’s sixth president since 2017 and most former Peruvian presidents have been imprisoned or prosecuted.
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