News leaked last week that Alan Garcia, while president, had regularly received lunchboxes of cash from Odebrecht’s operations manager added color to years of investigations and rumors of Garcia’s corruption. The information was given by Luis Nava, who worked closely with Garcia as secretary to the Presidency, in confessions that have earned him release from prison and to be held under house arrest. Garcia always denied any wrongdoing but took his own life when police arrived to raid his house in April this year during investigations into the Odebrecht bribery scandals.
In a statement, the APRA party defended Garcia and accused Nava of self-serving lies. But the party now faces another corruption scandal, unrelated to any of the Odebrecht investigations.
Very early Tuesday this week, police accompanied by agents from the public prosecutor’s office raided the home of lawmaker Luciana Leon as part of investigations in a case known as “The untouchable town councilors.” Raids were also carried out simultaneously on the home of her brother, Romulo Leon Romero, of her office in the Congress building, and also the home of trusted personnel in the city of Trujillo.
Luciana Leon, a member of the APRA party and a member of Congress since 2006, when she was the youngest lawmaker elected, is also a member of Congress’ still-standing Permanent Commission and as such continues to enjoy parliamentary immunity (which expires next week, Oct. 30, for most other lawmakers, a month since President Vizcarra closed Congress). Although Leon cannot be charged or arrested, search warrants can be issued on any property she owns or uses.
According to the district attorney, Luciana Leon is believed to have been paid for carrying out political and legal actions to benefit the municipal government of La Victoria in public works, dealing with a La Victoria official, Alexander Peña, through her aide, Betsy Matos. Leon is specifically alleged to have helped the La Victoria government obtain funding from the Finance Ministry for public works and of other “illicit actions.” In exchange, she secured a job for her brother one of Peña’s companies and was allegedly receiving a monthly payment of between 10 and 20 thousand soles.
The new mayor of La Victoria, George Forsyth, began routing out corruption in his district shortly after he took office in January this year, breaking up a network of protection rackets in the market areas and the Gamarra garment district. Investigations continue into the administration’s operations under the previous mayor, Elias Cuba, and his son. Father and son, and 21 other people involved, were arrested in August 2018 and two police generals were arrested in December, for providing protection for those who collected the illicit fees.
Prior to the arrests, business owners in La Victoria had taken their complaints on several occasions to Congress, but retaliation from the criminal network was swift and investigations show their names were given to the criminal network allegedly by people in Congress. According to the prosecutor’s office, besides Leon there are other former members of Congress involved.
According to the district attorney, Reynaldo Abia, the “untouchable councilors” began operations in 2016 and collected approximately 25 million soles per year, mainly through illegal charges for use of public space by street vendors, which was recorded as revenue linked to parking fees and trash collection. In the area surrounding the wholesale fruit market, truck drivers were charged up to 40 soles per hour.
In statements made to the press after the raid, Leon admitted knowing Alexander Peña but denied knowing anything about or having any involvement in the criminal network.
Jorge del Castillo, a key APRA party leader and a long-time lawmaker, said the issue would need to be clarified, “..and I trust Luciana has the appropriate answers.”
“My first words are in solidarity with Luciana, I really can’t imagine she could be involved in a network of this nature, as has been mentioned. I have never heard nor seen anything of this kind.”
Ex-congresswoman