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Peru: Parliament removes President Martín Vizcarra

2020-11-10T07:09:06.663Z


He took up his post to fight corruption in the country. But now Peru's head of state has been removed from office by the parliament himself after allegations of bribery.


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Martín Vizcarra

Photo: LUKA GONZALES / AFP

Martín Vizcarra was President of Peru for two and a half years, now he has been removed from office by parliament in Lima on charges of corruption.

Well more than the required two thirds of the MPs voted for this.

105 MPs voted for Vizcarra to be dismissed for "moral incapacity".

19 parliamentarians voted against and four abstained.

The necessary two-thirds majority was 87 votes.

Vizcarra said he was leaving office "with his head held high" and "with a clear conscience".

According to his own statements, he wants to forego legal action against his impeachment.

Shortly before the vote, the 57-year-old had "decidedly and categorically" rejected the corruption allegations at his hearing in parliament.

He said he did not accept "any bribes."

The allegations at the center of the impeachment proceedings date back to 2014, when Vizcarra was governor of the Moquegua region.

At that time, entrepreneurs reportedly paid him bribes so that they could receive public contracts.

Vizcarra had survived the first impeachment proceedings in September.

At that time, only 32 MPs voted for his removal.

The first trial related to allegations that Vizcarra was alleged to have influenced witnesses in a case of suspected nepotism involving his government.

Vizcarra took office in March 2018 with the declared aim of combating widespread corruption in Peru.

At that time, he succeeded the head of state Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who had resigned because of his involvement in the gigantic corruption scandal involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht and thus anticipated a parliamentary vote on his impeachment.

The official affairs of the head of state are now provisionally taken over by the parliamentary president Manuel Merino, who is hardly known to the population.

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as / AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2020-11-10

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