Peru: The new scandal that, again, puts Pedro Castillo against the wall

A Peruvian court ordered, on Tuesday, 36 months of preventive detention against Fray Vásquez Castillo and Gian Marco Castillo, nephews of the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, in the framework of a case in which they are accused of aggravated collusion, influence peddling and criminal organization, crimes that they deny and that they attribute to a «political persecution».

The Second Preparatory Investigation Court of the Judiciary issued the same ruling against Bruno Pacheco, the former Secretary General of the Presidency who lasted only four months in office, since last November he was forced to resign due to a corruption scandal that included the discovery of $20,000 in cash in the bathroom of his official office.

The list of defendants is completed with the businessmen Zamir Villaverde and Luis Pasapera Adrianzén; and Víctor Valdivia Malpartida and Edgar Vargas Más, former director and former official of Provías Descentralizado, a company that depends on the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Peru.

All of them are accused of alleged complicity to grant the Puente Tarata Consortium, a public works contract for an amount of 232.5 million soles (about 62.8 million dollars), in exchange for bribes, reports RT.

The sentence imposed by Judge Manuel Antonio Chuyo cannot be carried out for now because both the president’s nephews and his former secretary are fugitives and have no intention of surrendering to justice.

One more scandal in Peru

This was made clear by Vázquez Castillo, one of the president’s nephews, who declared last Monday, via remote, from an unidentified place.

«We are part of a political and media persecution, I have placed myself in a safe place because the intentions of the prosecutor in this matter are to hurt not me, but the government», he said, denying all the accusations against him, and not only those that refer to this cause.

Since Castillo began to govern in July of last year, the cousins began to have a regular presence in the Government Palace and were even linked to the clandestine management meetings held by the president.

They were also linked to the businesswoman Karelim López, who, after meeting with the president, obtained public works contracts for the companies she represented, which has led to another investigation for alleged influence peddling.

Vázquez Castillo assured that neither he nor his cousin have received bribes, be it money, gifts or trips, to influence the contract awards, and that he has only gone to the government headquarters for family matters.

But the prosecution office does not believe him. That is why they have become the top of the list of most wanted fugitives in the country. For each one, a reward of $4,000 dollars is offered, which, in turn, has become a scandal for Castillo, a president who has been in permanent political crisis since he took offic