The prosecutor's office and the Peruvian police carried out a search of the presidential palace on Tuesday evening in order to arrest the sister-in-law of President Pedro Castillo, suspected of participation in a network of corruption and money laundering.
The operation to capture Yenifer Paredes, which lasted four hours and remained unsuccessful, was launched at the request of the public prosecutor's office requesting "
the search
" of the "
residential area of the presidential palace
" in Lima, the Court of Justice said in a statement.
It is unprecedented in the history of Peru, since justice had never before penetrated the seat of executive power to look for someone there.
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Pedro Castillo and his family, including his sister-in-law, who considers the president and his wife to be his "
parents
", live in the presidential residence which is part of the government palace.
The judicial operation took place simultaneously in different places in the capital, with arrests: those of José Nenil Medina, mayor of a town in the region of Pedro Castillo, and the brothers and businessmen Hugo and Angie Espino, all allegedly linked to the same corruption network.
The court authorized the provisional detention of the persons concerned for 10 days.
Yenifer Paredes had already been summoned to testify before the public prosecutor's office and to appear before a Peruvian congressional control commission in mid-July.
The prosecutor's office has opened five investigations against President Castillo himself for alleged corruption, another unprecedented fact against a sitting president.