Prosecutor's Office of Peru asks to prohibit the first lady from leaving the country 4:15
(CNN Spanish) --
To the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo;
his wife, Lilia Paredes;
and his sister-in-law, Yenifer Paredes, are not only united by family ties but also by the investigations opened by the Public Ministry.
Lilia Paredes is being investigated as a possible coordinator of an alleged criminal organization allegedly led by Castillo, while her sister Yenifer is being investigated for the alleged crime of criminal organization, money laundering and aggravated collusion.
Lilia Paredes is a teacher, as is her husband.
Both taught in schools in the department of Cajamarca, where the president was born, in the northwest of the country.
The marriage has two children who grew up with Yenifer Paredes, the first lady's sister, whom the president calls his daughter, since he and her wife raised her since she was little.
Public Ministry of Peru opens investigation against the first lady for alleged criminal organization and money laundering
What role would the first lady and her sister have played in this alleged criminal organization?
The prosecutor's thesis maintains that Pedro Castillo is the leader of an alleged criminal organization that would have been "entrenched" in power since 2021 with several tentacles in the State, one of them in the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation.
The Prosecutor's Office is investigating the possibility that several corruption crimes have been committed in this case, known as Anguía, in which the first lady and her sister have been included, and in which the Public Ministry is investigating alleged irregularities in public works carried out in the Cajamarca region.
According to the "Provision of formalization and continuation of the preparatory investigation" to which CNN had access, the alleged criminal organization managed to obtain money through the award of contracts through "fraudulent tenders" to "front" companies.
According to the document obtained by CNN, prosecutors maintain that in the Anguía case, the first lady is the "coordinator" and Yenifer Paredes is the "lobbyist."
They affirm that the latter contacted mayors to carry out "projects" submitted to "public works tenders with the certainty that they would have guaranteed success for the execution and fulfillment of financing by the Government."
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Benji Espinoza, lawyer for the first lady of Peru, told CNN that his client is "absolutely innocent" and that the preparatory investigation opened against her "contains a set of deficiencies and omissions that we are going to question in a timely manner through a mechanism .
I am not going to anticipate yet what the exact resource will be, but it will be questioned.
CNN has contacted Yennifer Paredes' attorney on several occasions, but has not received a response.
In July, the first lady's younger sister denied the allegations against her when she appeared before Congress, where she was subpoenaed.
What is the legal situation of the Paredes sisters and what could happen to them?
The condition of Lilia and Yenifer Paredes is that of being investigated.
In the case of the first lady, the Prosecutor's Office has requested an impediment to leave the country for 36 months.
The request must be resolved by a judge.
Her sister is preliminarily detained in a police station, also waiting for the Judiciary to decide whether or not she accepts the request of the Public Ministry, which, in her case, is 36 months of preventive detention.
Once the investigations are concluded, the Prosecutor's Office will decide whether to charge them before the Judiciary, which in a possible trial would determine their innocence or guilt.
President Pedro Castillo can be investigated but not accused due to the immunity granted by the Constitution.
Peru: they open an investigation against Castillo's wife 1:49
Who else is being investigated in this case involving President Castillo's family and what have they said?
These are other people investigated in the case involving the presidential family, known as Anguía, which is part of the investigation of the alleged criminal organization that, according to the Prosecutor's Office, the president leads, and which he calls "criminal network of power ”.
-Geiner Alvarado
Former Minister of Housing and current Minister of Transport and Communications.
Due to his investiture, he is investigated by the Nation's prosecutor, Patricia Benavides, as well as President Castillo.
Alvarado, mentioned in the investigations as one of the possible operators in the Anguía case, after the head of state, has rejected the accusations of the Prosecutor's Office and said on his Twitter account: "All my actions in the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation, as well as in the positions I have held, have been aligned with the public objectives of the institution and have respected legal procedures and technical criteria.”
I categorically reject being part of a criminal organization and request the Public Ministry to clarify the case promptly, in order not to affect the dignity of the people.
– Geiner Alvarado Lopez (@ GeinerAlvaradoL) August 10, 2022
-Jose Medina
Mayor of the district of Anguía (Cajamarca), where several of the investigated works were carried out.
According to the thesis of the Prosecutor's Office, he was the one who, under the president and Minister Alvarado, coordinated the adjudication of these works with Yenifer Paredes and the Espino brothers.
Medina is being preliminarily detained in a police station and the Public Ministry has requested 36 months of preventive detention against him.
CNN has reached out to Medina's attorney for comment, but has so far received no response.
-Hugo and Anggi Espino
Brothers and representatives of the companies that, according to prosecutors, served as a “front” to obtain the tenders for public works investigated in this case.
The Espino brothers would be the alleged "front men" in the scheme of the Anguía case, part of the alleged criminal organization.
Both were preliminarily detained, but after the deadline they were released after accepting a sincere confession, and Hugo Espino, in addition, to effective collaboration, according to what his lawyer Juan Carlos Ramo told CNN.
These figures involve accepting responsibility for criminal acts in order to obtain a reduction in sentence.
Ramos also pointed out that "valuable information has been provided to clarify the facts under investigation."
There are six open investigations into President Castillo, five of them for alleged acts of corruption committed during his administration.
The most recent investigation against him corresponds to the case of the works in Cajamarca (Anguía), in which his wife Lilia Paredes and his sister-in-law Yenifer Paredes are also being investigated.
The president has publicly denied the accusations of the Prosecutor's Office on several occasions and maintains that there is a plot to destabilize his government.
President @PedroCastilloTe: "We are all witnesses to the continual implementation of a media plan that tries to come to power in an unconstitutional manner."(2/7)
– Presidency of Peru 🇵🇪 (@presidenciaperu) August 10, 2022
peter castle