Peru Prosecutor Expands Investigation Against President Pedro Castillo

(CNN Spanish) — Patricia Benavides, prosecutor of the Nation, ordered this Monday to expand the preliminary investigation against the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, for the alleged crime of criminal organization, as part of an investigation that had been opened to the president on July 21.

This expansion is added to the investigation already opened against the president for the alleged crime against the administration of justice-personal cover-up.

The investigation began when former Interior Minister Mariano González accused President Pedro Castillo of obstruction of justice, after which he was summoned by the Public Ministry. The institution considered that the facts reported by González in a journalistic interview “would constitute alleged criminal acts.”

In statements he made after being removed from office by the president, González, Castillo’s sixth interior minister, said he had no doubt that the president had a commitment to corruption and that his departure from the ministry represented an obstruction of justice. .

The former minister said his dismissal occurred after, according to him, Pedro Castillo questioned his work, including allegedly creating a support group for the Special Anti-Corruption Team formed by the prosecution to investigate corruption allegations against the Castillo government. .

Castillo’s lawyer, Benji Espinoza, told CNN that they have not yet been formally notified of this decision by the prosecution and that they will “wait for the disposition to be able to determine and activate the corresponding defense mechanisms.” Espinoza announced that the “position of the defense remains the same.”

Previously, the president’s lawyer filed annulment appeals against investigations opened by the prosecution, based, according to him, on the constitutional immunity enjoyed by the president.

The Public Ministry has five open investigations against the president, four of them for alleged acts of corruption committed during his government. In this way, Pedro Castillo is the first Peruvian president to be investigated while he is in office.