The president of Peru’s congress, Luis Alva Castro, said a commission to investigate lawmaker Nancy Obregón’s alleged links to drug trafficking will be formed by May 6.
The commission to investigate Obregón – a member of Ollanta Humala’s opposition Nationalist Party – will be made up of six legislators, state news agency Andina reported Alva Castro as saying.
The executive committee of Peru’s Nationalist Party (PNP) decided to temporarily remove Obregón from the party until the investigation is complete, Radio Programas Peru reported. Obregón had reportedly requested the move.
“Congresswoman Obregón has requested that she is separated from the party during the investigations,” daily El Comercio reported PNP leader Humala as saying. “To me it is an act of courage. I support her and am strongly confident of her innocence.”
Allegations that Obregón has links to drug trafficking arose after a prosecutor from Tingo María, a city in Peru’s north-central Huánuco department, opened a criminal investigation of her husband, Fabio Chávez.
The investigation against Chávez arose after police arrested five people in a drug processing lab. Two of the individuals reportedly told police the property and drug processing materials belonged to Chávez.
