They will investigate the vice president of Peru for alleged money laundering

Bellido talks about the factual powers that rule over the Executive 1:02

(CNN Spanish) -

The vice president and also Minister of Development and Social Inclusion of Peru, Dina Boluarte, has been included in an investigation for alleged money laundering carried out by prosecutor Richard Rojas for the alleged illicit financing of electoral campaigns by part of the Peru Libre party, today in government.

The investigation includes, among those campaigns, the one that this year brought Pedro Castillo to the presidency of the country, but does not specify which would be the other elections in which Peru Libre allegedly would have used funds from bribes in the Junín region.

The prosecutor Rojas, specialized in money laundering crimes, also investigates Peru Libre as a legal entity;

to the president of the party, Vladimir Cerrón, and the former president of the Council of Ministers and current congressman Guido Bellido.

In a message on his Twitter account, Cerrón expressed his "full solidarity" with Boluarte for "having been unfairly included in the investigation of money laundering," which he attributed to the intention of "continuing the persecution of Peru Libre."

This case stems from a first investigation by the Prosecutor's Office known as “Los dynammicos del centro”, which has been carried out since 2019 when Cerrón was governor of the Junín region.

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The Prosecutor's Office raises the existence of a network linked to the payment of bribes for the granting of driver's licenses in that region.

According to the Public Ministry, after going through “acts of conversion and transfer”, which it does not specify, these funds would have served to “unduly finance” the proselytizing activities of Peru Libre as well as the legal and personal expenses that Cerrón faces due to different judicial processes.

Cerrón and Bellido reject the accusations of money laundering.

• A congressman from Peru Libre dies during debate for the vote of confidence of the president of the Council of Ministers

According to the tax document accessed by CNN, the Prosecutor's Office is investigating Vice President Boluarte for opening a bank account in which, it says, illegal contributions were collected to pay the civil damages or surety of Cerrón, founder of Peru Libre and former governor of Junín , for a corruption conviction in 2019. The document cites an effective collaborator in the case to support its theory that the money would also have been used to finance the party's campaign.

The tax document cites a statement that Boluarte made in September and in which, according to the Prosecutor's Office, the official confirms that she opened the account and that the money was intended to pay the civil reparation required for Cerrón and thus prevent him from going to prison.

CNN is seeking Boluarte's reaction to the decision of the Prosecutor's Office to include her in the investigation.

This Sunday, in statements to the Fourth Power program, the vice president pointed out that at the time the account was opened there was no political campaign to finance.

“Indeed, the account was opened and I have it written down, on November 1, 2020. As of that date, the party had not yet been registered on the list.

Consequently, there was no campaign to do, ”Boluarte said.

“In that time there have been 104 people who have been depositing.

From where?

It is not known why it was a transparent public account ”, he added.

In the interview, the vice president confirmed that the account was opened “because compatriot Vladimir Cerrón indicated that the court was demanding the payment of civil damages of 850,000 soles and that if he did not pay that money within the term that the court had indicated , he was going back to prison again ”.

At the current exchange rate, that money equates to just over US $ 213,000.

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