Martín Vizcarra on Pedro Castillo: There is no vacancy due to ineptitude 2:36
(CNN Spanish) --
The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, denounced on Sunday a conspiracy against his government, in response to the complaints published by the newspapers La República and El Comercio, which indicate that the businesswoman Karelim López decided to take advantage of a process of “effective collaboration”, an agreement through which López decides to cooperate and provide information to the public prosecutor in exchange for procedural benefits.
The information provided by López refers to investigations in which several officials, government agencies and Castillo himself are mentioned, according to sources with knowledge of the processes.
“If these facts are the subject of a tax investigation, how is it possible that they are publicly debated in the media?”
Castillo said and added: "This shows that the Prosecutor's Office would be part of a plot to destabilize the government."
In the Press area of the Public Ministry, they told CNN that the attorney general, Zoraida Ávalos, will give her version of these events on Sunday night.
In his statement this Sunday, the president refers to López's decision to collaborate in a new investigation that the Specialized Money Laundering Prosecutor's Office initiated against him, and which is in a reserved condition.
A source from the Public Ministry related to the investigation told CNN that, in effect, such an investigation exists.
In his message to the nation, Castillo demanded that the Prosecutor's Office this Sunday “continue with the investigation that has already begun and, in the shortest possible time, give objective explanations consistent with justice.
The people need to know the truth.”
“There is a minority sector that will never accept our popular and democratic government.
Today they seek to vacate us so as not to solve the great problems that our country has.
The Peruvian people and the international community are aware of the anti-democratic and coup-mongering will of this minority sector,” the president added.
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Castillo had already written on the subject: “A series of speculations are circulating in the monopoly press that have the objective of attacking democracy.
The same ones who conspired against the previous presidents, want to do it now against the people's government, ”he said through his Twitter account this Saturday.
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“Mrs. Karelim López has given the Prosecutor's Office statements without legal basis or consistency with the truth, which threaten the ethics and transparency of all investigation procedures.
I denounce in advance this type of actions that only insist on anti-democratic political maneuvers in order to generate instability in the country.
I call on the international community and the Peruvian people to activate the Inter-American Democratic Charter and remain vigilant against any destabilizing and coup attempt in the country perpetrated by those who still do not accept their defeat and attack the citizenry,” she added.
Along with several former officials of the Pedro Castillo government, López is also being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor for her role in some public tenders in which irregularities are suspected during the current government.
César Nakazaki, López's lawyer, told CNN about one of the investigations, the one related to the Tarata bridge, that "she does not belong to any of the companies that make up the consortium, but to another that provides services to this group of companies but in the stage of "execution of contracts".
That is to say, Nakazaki points out, that Karelim López "never intervened in the bidding stage for any work."
Castillo has been included as a witness in these investigations.
In the interview granted to CNN on January 24, the president initially said that he had not met Karelim López, but later mentioned: "Yes, she came to the office, I received her," referring to one of the visits made by López to the Palace of Government and that appear registered in the State Transparency Portal.
After this interview and in a report on the Peruvian TV program “Panorama” broadcast on February 20, the president denied knowing López when he appeared as a witness before the Public Ministry, in the investigation of the Tarata vehicle bridge over the Huallaga River.
Vizcarra: Castillo entrenched himself to avoid the vacancy 1:08
In previous days and on repeated occasions, CNN contacted the Prosecutor's Office to corroborate this information, but received no response.
Castillo's lawyer said this Sunday on the RPP radio network that, as part of the 83 questions answered to the Prosecutor's Office, the president said about López: "Yes, I can find her."
The same source from the Public Ministry with whom CNN communicated to corroborate that López had decided to collaborate with the fiscal investigation confirmed that his statement implicates President Pedro Castillo, some state ministers, congressmen and relatives in alleged acts of corruption.
CNN contacted César Nakazaki to find out whether or not his client is an effective collaborator of the Prosecutor's Office, but he said that for now he could not issue statements on this subject.
According to the complaint published by La República, whose investigation CNN was also able to confirm with the same source from the Public Ministry, Karelim López "reveals the existence of an alleged criminal organization headed by the president, Pedro Castillo, who would have infiltrated the Government Palace in various ministries and in the Congress of the Republic”.
The objective of said organization, he assures him, "would be to obtain money with public works tenders" to pay alleged debts from Castillo's electoral campaign.
In its complaint, El Comercio also refers to what would be happening in the ministries: "The most relevant thing about the statement is that it affirms that President Pedro Castillo is part of a mafia that operates in the Ministry of Transport and Communications."
Minister Juan Silva denied the accusations on his Twitter account: "Our support for the president @PedroCastilloTe, who has rejected any link with acts of corruption. I also categorically rule out that my person has participated in illicit acts as head of the MTC. No to destabilization and coup attempts”.
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After the complaint was known through local media, the Oversight Commission of the Congress of the Republic reported on Saturday, also on Twitter, that "it will send this Monday the official letter of invitation to President Pedro Castillo for Monday, March 7, with the in order for him to give his testimony.”
For his part, Congressman Jorge Montoya, spokesman for the Renovación Popular opposition party, wrote on his Twitter account: "It is imminent that the continuity of this government be evaluated and the plenary session be summoned in an extraordinary manner to once and for all vote for the vacancy motion because this has come to an end. We can't wait another minute."
The National Prosecutor Zoraida Avalos opened two preliminary investigations against President Castillo on January 4.
The first of them corresponds to alleged crimes of "aggravated influence peddling (as the author) and collusion (as a participant), to the detriment of the State for the public bidding process for the construction of the Tarata vehicular bridge over the river Huallaga (San Martin).
The second investigation is "for alleged interference in military promotions."
In this case, the crimes of influence peddling and illegal sponsorship are attributed to him, according to the document from the Public Ministry.
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However, the Prosecutor's Office recognized that "the beginning of the investigative acts will be suspended until the end of his presidential mandate due to his absolute immunity that transcends the criminal procedural sphere."
Days ago, the Comptroller General of the Republic indicated in a statement that it detected irregularities in the public tender for the construction of the Tarata vehicular bridge over the Huallaga river, in the San Martín region.
In the interview granted to CNN, on January 24, President Pedro Castillo had already talked about this case: "It's another big lie, in the presidential office these cases are not seen, in the presidential office there is no tender."
peter castle