Peru’s Romulo “the rat” León moved from jail to house arrest

Peru’s once-Most Wanted man, Romulo “the rat” León Alegría, was released from jail on Monday, after a local court ruled that he could be put under house arrest. On June 2, 2009, Lima’s Third Penal Court reverted León’s sentence from jail detention to home confinement. The controversial decision sparked immediate criticism from across Peru’s political [...]

More than 7,000 government employees charged with corruption in Peru

Legal proceedings against more than 7,000 allegedly corrupt government employees — including army generals, police chiefs, mayors and regents — are currently underway in Peru, daily la República reported Friday. Since January 2009, more than 1,900 complaints have been registered for acts of corruption — up from 1,274 cases in 2008. Approximately 72 percent of [...]

Peru annuls five Discover Petroleum oil contracts amid alleged concession kickbacks

A full-fledged scandal over alleged oil kickbacks has forced the ouster of Peru’s Energy and Mines Minister Juan Valdivia, as well as two top state oil company executives, and led the government to suspend five joint exploration and development contracts recently awarded to state-owned oil company Petroperu and Discover Petroleum of Norway. “We consider it very [...]