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Sixth investigation into Peru’s President opened after relative was arrested – AFR


Peru’s prosecutors have launched a sixth criminal investigation into President Pedro Castillo over alleged corruption related to government tenders, officials said Thursday.

The announcement came after police this week searched the Lima presidential palace where Castillo resides, as well as his private home in the country’s rural north, in search of his sister-in-law, who gave herself up in a related corruption investigation on Wednesday.

Castillo is already the subject of five other criminal investigations into bribery and alleged plagiarism of his university work, and has survived two impeachment trials since taking office in July last year.

Peru’s prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into Castillo and his former housing minister, Geiner Alvarado, “for an alleged crime … in the form of a criminal organization,” the state ministry, which oversees the prosecutors’ work, said on Twitter.

The investigation, she added, is targeting contracts awarded in the provinces of Chota-Cajamarca, where Castillo is originally from, and Cajatambo-Lima, north of the capital.

The arrests this week of Castillo’s sister-in-law Yenifer Paredes, business brothers Hugo and Anggi Espino and Mayor Jose Nenil Medina of Anguia in Cajamarca are linked to the same investigation.

The group is accused of being involved in a corruption and money laundering network that prosecutors say was run by the Peruvian president.

Castillo, who is serving a five-year term until 2026, cannot be tried during his tenure.

Last week, a team of investigators visited Anguia and Cajatambo to gather information on public works contracts awarded to the Espino brothers, who are said to have had ties to Castillo’s sister-in-law.

Castillo, a 52-year-old rural school teacher and trade unionist, unexpectedly seized power from Peru’s traditional political elite in last year’s elections.

He has come under constant fire from right-wing political rivals seeking his impeachment, so far without success.

Opinion polls show that three-quarters of Peruvians disapprove of Castillo’s leadership of the country, which has seen three prime ministers and seven interior ministers come and go in just over a year.

Paredes, 26, lives with Castillo and his wife, whom she reportedly considers “parents.”

She is the fourth person in the President’s entourage to be investigated for alleged corruption.

The others include a nephew who served as an adviser, a former transport minister – both fugitives from justice – and Castillo’s former presidential secretary.

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