Prosecutor includes Peru vice-president in alleged money laundering case

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The also Minister of Development and Social Inclusion, Boluarte has been accused of having opened a bank account in her name to collect donations to help party leader Vladimir Cerrón pay the compensation he was convicted for corruption.

In addition to Boluarte, 11 other people have also been charged in the same case, among them the Deputy Minister of Territorial Governance of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM) Braulio Grajeda, who shared the bank account with the current vice-president.

According to the testimony of a Prosecutor’s Office whistleblower, the bank account allegedly collected bribe money from the Transportation and Communications Department of the Regional Government of Junín, under the control of the Marxist Peru Libre party.

The funds collected from illegal fees received for the irregular issuance of driver’s licenses were also reportedly used to finance the congressional campaigns of several Peru Libre militants.

The administration in charge of Peru Libre in the central Junín region also allegedly forced its temporary workers to contribute 100 soles (about US$25) per month to the account opened by Boluarte and Grajeda under threat of not having their contracts renewed.

The prosecutor in charge of the case Richard Rojas suspects that Boluarte may have been involved in “money laundering with the aim of unduly financing her political campaign.”

In July, Boluarte explained that she opened the bank account in her capacity as Peru Libre’s Economy Secretary and at Cerrón’s request, in order to collect donations from militants who wanted to contribute to the civil compensation for Cerrón’s conviction of corruption while he was regional governor of Junín.

From that account, 15,709 soles were transferred to Cerrón’s personal account, a fraction of the 850,000 soles that led to the conviction of the Peru Libre leader for the crime of incompatible negotiation.

This conviction, which entails a 4-year suspended prison sentence, excluded Cerrón from running in the presidential elections, replaced by teacher and Peruvian teachers’ union leader Pedro Castillo, who ultimately won the elections and became Peru’s president.