Peru’s Prime Minister and leader of governing party indicted for money laundering

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Peru’s newly appointed Prime Minister Guido Bellido and the leader of the main government party Vladimir Cerrón have been indicted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for alleged money laundering in the financing of Peru Libre, the political party with which Pedro Castillo won the presidential elections.

In addition to Bellido and Cerrón, 15 other people have been indicted, among them Waldermar Cerrón, Vladimir’s brother, who was recently appointed spokesman of Peru Libre’s parliamentary group in Congress, the largest with 37 legislators.

Prosecutor Richard Rojas included the three Peru Libre members in the inquiry “Los Dinámicos del Centro” (The dynamics of the center) which investigates the alleged illegal financing of the party through illegal collections made by regional government officials of the central Andean department of Junin.

According to the prosecutor, Vladimir Cerrón allegedly led a network of illegal collections to finance the electoral campaigns and to pay the amount due under a corruption conviction that prevented him from being his party’s presidential candidate.

In the cases of Bellido and Waldemar Cerrón, they are allegedly among the beneficiaries of the money used in the last electoral campaign, where they were elected deputies for the regions of Cusco and Junin, respectively.

Bellido is also accused of allegedly supporting terrorism for having paid tribute to Edith Lagos on social networks, one of the best known faces of the first bloody and terrorist attacks of Maoist guerrilla group Sendero Luminoso in the early 80s.

The Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office has decided to transfer the “Los Dinámicos del Centro” case from Junin to capital Lima for prosecutor Vanessa Díaz to take over.

This legal setback for Peru Libre, the first regional party in the country to reach the national government, comes at a time when President Pedro Castillo’s Council of Ministers is still waiting to go to Parliament for the investiture vote.

Since taking office on July 28, the executive branch has been criticized by the opposition for being composed of several members of the extreme far left, among them Bellido himself.