Peru: Prosecutor Pursues Pedro Castillo over Alleged Corruption

The complaint is based on meetings that businesswoman Karelim López apparently held with Castillo so that he would allegedly favor the consortium of companies she represented in the bidding for a bridge, according to the State Attorney General's Office (Abogacía General del Estado) in a statement.

At least one of those apparent meetings took place outside the Government Palace in Lima so that there would be no official record, as demonstrated by a news report of the Sunday program Cuarto Poder that captured López and Castillo inside the same building in the Lima district of Breña at the same time.

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A few days after this alleged meeting, the Tarata III Bridge consortium that she represented won the bidding for a 232.5 million soles (US$57.6 million) contract thanks to a bid 27 cents of a sol (US$0.06) lower than the next best qualified bid.

This consortium was thus awarded the work despite the fact that the president of the selection committee, Miguel Espinoza, had warned that it had not submitted invoices for similar works carried out in the past, one of the requirements set out in the bidding conditions.

Soria pointed out in his complaint that there are suspicions that the Peruvian president "is also immersed in the conduct of influence peddling" that is being investigated by the Second Office of the Second Corporate Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Lima.

In this case, the former secretary general of the Government Palace, Bruno Pacheco, is being investigated for the alleged pressures exerted to the general commanders of the Army and the Air Force to promote military officialsclose to the president.

"Here is part of the complaint filed by Attorney General Daniel Soria in which he asks the Attorney General to initiate preliminary proceedings against President Pedro Castillo. Alleged crimes: illegal sponsorship and influence peddling." 

On Friday, the Prosecutor's Office raided the houses of Pacheco and López, who are currently barred from leaving the country for this case of alleged corruption.

Weeks ago, Pacheco's office was raided, where $20,000 in cash was found in his personal bathroom in the Government Palace, which he attributed to personal savings.

In his statement, Pacheco informed the attorney general that he had no record of the meetings that the head of state held in the property in Breña that Castillo already used as his headquarters and center of operations during the electoral campaign.

The Attorney General requested to the Prosecutor General, Zoraida Avalos, that once the investigation is opened, she  not suspend it, since he maintains that "article 117 of the Constitution does not prohibit that a president of the Republic in office be investigated."