Congressional commission: 70 percent of Peruvian mayors have committed irregularities

More than 70 percent of Peruvian mayors and 50 percent of regional presidents have committed irregularities, according to the president of the multiparty commission in charge of monitoring and evaluating Congresses national anti-corruption plan, lawmaker Rosa Florián.

Florián told CNR radio the main irregularity committed by local authorities is the embezzlement of funds and the abuse of emergencies in order to avoid administrative processes.

“This is very worrisome and we believe that coming into elections some things need to be fixed for the well-being of the country, whether they like it or not,” Florián said. Read more…

President Garcia fires justice minister

President Alan García sacked his justice minister on Tuesday after investigations revealed irregularities in a pardon granted to a former TV station owner. The decision to remove Aurelio Pastor, nine months after he was appointed as Peru’s minister of justice, was disclosed in a supreme resolution signed by García and Cabinet Chief Javier Velásquez, Radio Programas del Peru, RPP, reported. Read more…

Police increase personnel to find and arrest former TV owner

Peruvian police have assigned special investigators to find and arrest José Enrique Crousillat, who went into hiding Saturday after President Alan García rescinded a pardon he granted to the former TV-mogul, Presidential Cabinet Chief Javier Velásquez said.

“All of our efforts are focused on finding this man and bringing him to justice,” Velásquez told Radio Programas Peru. “We have instructed the police to double their efforts. There are twice as many officers and they are sending people who are specialized in finding and capturing this man.”

The official gazette, El Peruano, published a supreme decree signed by President Alan García that rescinded the pardon Sunday granted to Crousillat, two days after Judge César Vásquez of the Second Anti-Corruption Court issued an arrest warrant for the former owner of America Television. The warrant was issued after a review of the medical records used to support Crousillat’s petition for a pardon revealed irregularities, daily El Comercio reported.

The former TV owner’s lawyer, Jorge Castro, said Crousillat went into hiding after the arrest warrant was issued, state news agency Andina reported. Read more…

Peru government to review medical records cited in pardon of ex-TV mogul

Justice Minister Aurelio Pastor said Wednesday a full review will be made of the medical reports used to justify the pardon granted last December to former TV owner José Enrique Crousillat, who took millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for favorable coverage of the Fujimori regime in the 1990s.

“We are going to ask for a new assessment of the medical tests,” state-run news agency Andina quoted Pastor as saying. “We have asked for the support of the Ministry of Health to recommend experts that, based on the reports in the file, will provide additional information to the executive branch and the president.”

President Alan García granted a pardon to the former owner of America Television on Dec. 11 for “humanitarian reasons,” on the grounds that Crousillat, 77, suffers from a series of ailments, including heart disease, depression and diabetes, which could put his life at risk.

Crousillat and his son, José Francisco, fled to Argentina in 2001 when video tapes recorded in the National Intelligence Service, SIN, proved the wide corruption network that ex-President Fujimori and his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos had woven to control the media and public opinion. Early in 2006, the Crousillats were extradited to face trial in Lima.

Crousillat was sentenced to eight years in prison and charged a fine of $52 million, convicted of “selling” America Television’s editorial line to the Fujimori government in the 1990s. Two videotapes, recorded in the SIN offices in 1999, show Crousillat and his son receiving bundles of dollar bills from Vladimiro Montesinos. In one recording, on Feb. 26 that year, Montesinos counted the $100,000 packets to make up $1 million, “for January and February.” Crousillat and his son received about $619,000 a month to broadcast the news as dictated by Montesinos.

About a month after he was pardoned by President García, however, IDL-Reporteros, a non-profit investigative reporting team, published a picture of Crousillat, who appeared to be in good health during a recent visit to a beach. Crousillat had also been seen in good condition at popular restaurants.

Furthermore, Crousillat filled a lawsuit last Monday against the current directors of America Television in an attempt to regain control of the station, Crousillat’s lawyer, Jorge Castro, told Radio Programas Peru. Castro said former president Alejandro Toledo is also included in the lawsuit. He accuses them of, among other things, collusion and fraud.

“One begins to feel that he has been deceived, because a person that is in the final stages of their health is not at the beach… or at the Costanera restaurant,” President García told daily El Comercio.

Critics of García, however,  question his sincerity and point to his relationship with Crousillat’s daughter, Marisol, who was named to a top position at the government-owned National Institute of Radio and Television of Peru, or IRTP, in July 2009. Marisol Crousillat was appointed to the position by then-president of the IRTP, Ricardo Ghibellini, a confidant of García who was named ambassador to Brazil by the president in February.

“For me it is a mistake to suggest that this is a product of a deceived president. Those who believe that do not know our president,” former anti-corruption prosecutor, Antonio Maldonado, told Ideele Radio. “I don’t think that our president is so naive as to be tricked. This is part of a much more complicated sketch.”

“We have to be clear. The pardon given to José Enrique Crousillat is the largest betrayal of the fight against corruption in recent times. The pardon should be revised, it should be part of a national and international campaign for its revision. It should be annulled.”

Economics Prof. John McMillan and Pablo Zoido, a Ph.D. student in Political Economics, from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, published a paper in 2004 demonstrating the priority that Montesinos placed on Peru’s media in his campaign to control the nation’s democracy. The study, titled “How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru” detailed how television owners were paid bribes about 100 times larger than what judges or politicians received.  Control of the Fourth Estate was the key to successfully gutting the democratic system of checks and balances.

Judicial commission suspends competition following corruption allegations

Peru’s judicial commission announced Thursday it is suspending a competition to fill vacancies at the Supreme Prosecutors Office following allegations of corruption in the selection process.

The National Magistrates Council, or CNM, said it is postponing the last stage of the competition – the personal interviews – due to allegations that one of the members of the selection committee, Efraín Anaya, had told a candidate he would support his application if he provided “economic incentives,” daily El Comercio reported. Read more…

Prosecutor in Fujimori trial planning to resign

One of the lead prosecutors in the human rights trials of jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori said he is planning on resigning due to political pressure from within Peru’s judicial commission.

Avelino Guillén, a highly regarded and incisive state attorney in key cases, told Ideele Radio his decision to resign from Peru’s Public Ministry follows an exam he wrote to obtain tenure at the Supreme Prosecutors Office.  He failed the exam, which was evaluated by the National Magistrates Council, or CNM.  Read more…

Former president of Peru’s Supreme Council of Military Justice arrested in Mexico

Mexican police arrested on Thursday the former president of Peru’s Supreme Council of Military Justice, Guido Guevara, who is wanted in Peru for allegations of embezzlement and criminal conspiracy, the office of Mexico’s Attorney General said in a press release. Read more…

Head of Peru’s main water utility resigns over corruption allegations

Peru’s state attorney general is planning to make a formal complaint of corruption against Guillermo León, the former president of the state water utility agency, or Sedapal, who resigned on Wednesday over a scandal involving the construction of two waste water treatment plants.

“Today we are authorizing that our attorney general, with all of the evidence we have received, make a complaint to the Public Ministry,” state news agency Andina quoted presidential Cabinet Chief Javier Velásquez as saying. Read more…

Peru government announces creation of anti-corruption commission

Peru’s government announced the creation of an anti-corruption commission on Tuesday that will design strategies and policies aimed at promoting ethics, transparency and anti-corruption in the country’s civil service and among private citizens.

The High Level Commission for Anti-Corruption will be lead by the president of Peru’s judicial system, Javier Villa, state news agency Andina reported.

“The fight against corruption plays an important role on the side of governance and the consolidation of a democratic constitutional state,” said Villa. “The collection of honorable people is not enough. It is necessary for the State as a whole to be honorable, to comply with its commitments.”

Read more…

Sedapal denies irregularities in contract for water treatment plants in San Bartolo

The president of Peru’s state water utility agency, Sedapal, denied on Tuesday irregularities in the agency’s decision to reward a multi-million dollar contract to a newly formed company owned by a former Peruvian soccer player, Radio Programas Peru reported. Read more…

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