Daily Times

Lima: Peru’s public ministry said on Friday it had raided the presidential compound and several private homes as part of a corruption investigation into state oil company Petroperu that implicates President Pedro Castillo.

The public prosecutor’s office said on Twitter it had carried out “a raid for seizure purposes on the Government Palace and 14 other buildings linked to the investigation” into a biodiesel acquisition by Petroperu.

The secretary general’s offices in the presidential palace and the homes of several top Petroperu officials were among the buildings searched.

Last month, prosecutors announced they were investigating Castillo over accusations that he intervened in a process for the state-owned giant’s acquisition in the local market of biodiesel — a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals.

He stepped in, they allege, “so that the Heaven Petroleum Operator company, managed by businessman Samir Abudayeh, would win a contract worth $74 million.” Prosecutors say that the deal was “coordinated through a series of irregularities, made possible by collusive agreements managed from the presidential office on October 18, 2021.”

Police and prosecutors arrived at the presidential palace at dawn on Friday to begin their search of the premises, which lasted until midday. The investigation into Castillo, 52, has been suspended until his term ends since Peruvian presidents are protected under “absolute immunity.”

However, the probe into the actions of several Petroperu officials and businessmen continues. Former rural schoolteacher Castillo, who has been president for just six months, is also the subject of two more investigations.

He is suspected of having “intervened in an inappropriate and indirect” way in the tender process for the construction of a bridge over the Huallaga River in northern Peru. And he is also accused of “influence peddling and illegal sponsoring” for allegedly pushing for the promotion of military sympathizers of his leftist government.