An investigation into money laundering puts President Dina Boluarte on the ropes in Peru

Showing off a collection of high-end watches without having communicated it in her declaration of assets is not the only explanation that President Dina Boluarte owes Peru.

An investigation by the newspaper

has revealed more shadows in her personal finances.

It's no longer just about the jewelry she wears on her wrists, but also about what doesn't add up in her bank accounts.

The Rolex, valued at $19,000, appears to be the missing link in an alleged money laundering crime dating back eight years, when she was a low-ranking public official but had weight in the region where she was born.

A report from the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Superintendency of Banking and Insurance (SBS) has detected strange movements in the 11 bank accounts that Boluarte managed at the Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP)—four of them jointly—between August 2016 and August 2022. That is, the period of time in which she served as zonal head of the National Registry of Civil Identity (Reniec), with a salary of 4,500 soles (1,216 dollars) until the days when she was vice president of Pedro Castillo and in turn the Minister of Development and Social Inclusion, with a monthly income of 30,000 soles (8,108 dollars).

In that period she received a total of deposits for 1.1 million soles ($297,000) whose origin could not be determined.

“I have entered the Government Palace with clean hands and I will leave with clean hands, as I have promised the Peruvian people,” Boluarte said recently to defend himself against questions about the fifteen watches with which he has appeared at public events since his arrival to power.

Intelligence reports have at least questioned his words.

“They would have no economic justification to support them.

The information declared would not support the detailed operations,” says the report from the Financial Intelligence Unit, slipping the theory that it may be an alleged crime of money laundering.

According to the breakdown, the largest number of transfers were made in joint accounts.

The most favored was the one that Boluarte had with Néstor Amado Camargo, leader of the Apurímac Departmental Club, with whom he was a member of the board of directors in two consecutive periods: 2017-2019 and 2019-2022.

They received 893,000 soles ($241,000).

In both administrations, Boluarte served as president and Amado as treasurer and secretary of economy.

A detail that the investigation highlights is that the largest number of payments from that joint account (133 deposits for $80,000) coincides with the year in which the president ran for mayor of the Lima district of Surquillo.

It was in 2018, under the representation of Perú Libertario, the name by which the group was known that later became known as Perú Libre.

“In the sworn statement that the current president presented before the National Elections Jury about her assets and income for 2018, she recorded income for S/73,200, her home located in Surquillo for S/360,135, and her vehicle for S/85,410.

“She did not report the almost S / 300 thousand (81 thousand dollars) that she had in the bank,” highlights the information from the newspaper

Matching points can be established with her watch collection: they were also not declared despite the regulations requiring it.

Contacted to offer his defense, Néstor Amado Camargo provided an unclear explanation about the joint account with Boluarte.

“In 2017 I am the economic secretary of the club.

And Mrs. Dina Boluarte is the president of the club.

Then, according to the statute, the club's finances are managed between the president and the financial secretary.

“That's all I can tell you,” he defended himself.

However, the statute does not indicate that the club's income must be deposited in the bank accounts of the members of the board of directors, but rather in the accounts of the legal entity, that is, the Apurimac Departmental Club.

Added to this is that between 2016 and 2020, the aforementioned club declared annual income no greater than 100,000 soles ($27,000).

“In this sense, the income declared before the different public entities would not support the income recorded in their accounts,” the report states.

The president's other joint accounts are with two leaders of Peru Libre: Yuri Castro Romero, former candidate for mayor of Lima;

and Braulio Grajeda Bellido, as well as Víctor Torres Merino, a man close to his brother Nicanor Boluarte.

Finally, another pearl left by the financial intelligence report is that in 2018, the lawyer bought a Honda CR-V truck for $25,990, with a cash deposit, the origin of which is unknown.

On the registration form, the president placed “savings and some loans” without further details.

A week of more suspicions, silences and extreme defenses is coming.

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