Justice Cesar Hinostroza, who fled to Spain in October 2018 to avoid arrest for several crimes, is to be returned to Peru sometime in the next several months, following the Spanish government’s decision today to approve Peru’s request for his extradition. The delay is due to a decision pending in the Spanish courts on his appeal for asylum.
Hinostroza is under investigation for influence peddling, illicit patronage and inappropriate dealings as well as leading a criminal network within the courts of justice in Lima and Callao.
The decision in Madrid today recognizes the first three crimes but not criminal organization, which means that Hinostroza cannot be tried for that charge. If sufficient proof of the charge is eventually gathered, Peru can appeal to Spain on that specific charge at a later date.
Hinostroza is allegedly a key character in a corruption network that operated initially in the courts of the port of Callao and involved (or still involves) district attorneys and judges both in Callao and in Lima who handed down decisions in favor of friends or for the right price.
The network, known as the “white collars of Callao,” became public knowledge when recordings of phone calls were leaked to the press. The calls had been tapped by court order as part of an investigation into tracing drug traffickers and hired assassins in the port. The phone conversations connected to judges and court officers came as an unexpected surprise, unearthing a network of contacts and agreements even among members of the majority in Congress, who voted against investigating the judges.
The audios of the conversations were leaked just two months after President Martin Vizcarra had been sworn in, following President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s resignation, and triggered Vizcarra’s program to eliminate corruption through political reforms. Keiko Fujimori’s majority in Congress approved certain reforms but blocked lifting parliamentary immunity, a key reform that this week is in full battle in the new Congress.
Last year, several of the court officers, including Callao superior court judge Waldo Rios, were placed in pre-trial custody but other justices who rank high in the Lima court system remain in place. Last week, however, the Attorney General, Zoraida Avalos, filed a constitutional charge against Justice Pedro Chavarry, a former attorney general, for obstructing justice (suspending two state attorneys who were leading the investigations into the massive Odebrecht bribery scandal, and removing documents from a sealed office). Congress is to see the charge this week. Avalos has also called for the suspension of two other key justices.
