Yenifer Paredes, sister-in-law of the Peruvian president, Pedro Castillo, surrendered this Wednesday to the Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating her for alleged influence peddling for allegedly offering a sanitation work in Cajamarca, the president’s native region, confirmed her lawyer, José Dionicio Quesnay , to RPP News.
"At this time within his age, his courage and bravery is in the Prosecutor’s Office to appear and surrender to the prosecutor"declared the lawyer about Paredes, who was raised as a daughter by the presidential couple.
Paredes turned himself in to the Public Ministry one day after personnel from the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police raided the Government Palace in compliance with a judicial resolution that ordered his preliminary detention for ten days and that of three other people linked to his case, including two businessmen and a district mayor of Cajamarca.
However, during the operation in the presidential residence, which lasted until dawn, the younger sister of the first lady, Lilia Paredes, could not be located and her whereabouts have been unknown since then.
The lawyer did not comment on where Paredes was, but stated that his delivery surprised the authorities of the Public Ministry.
"The Prosecutor’s Office has been taken by surprise by the delivery of my sponsored person. We are already inside the Prosecutor’s Office"held.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE DENIES THAT SHE WAS HIDDEN
After hearing the news, the Minister of Justice, Félix Chero, said at a press conference that it was taking place simultaneously that the surrender of Paredes "shows that the media version that was hidden in (the) Palace (of Government) is not such".
"It shows that the president does not cover for anyone (and) is putting himself on the right to tell his truth"Chero pointed out after greeting the "courage" of walls that "Even when his freedom is at stake, he has enacted the right".
The arrest warrant against Paredes, which was described as "media show" and an attack against the democratic order by Castillo, is the result of a fiscal investigation against him that began after a journalistic report by the América Televisión network.
This released a video in which the young woman spoke with residents of a community in the district of Chota, in Cajamarca, to inform them that she needed to register them to build a sanitation work, despite not holding any position in the Executive.
In the images, Paredes appears next to Hugo Espino, who was arrested on Tuesday and is the legal representative of the company JJM Espino Engineering & Construction SAC, which in September 2021 won a tender with the State for more than 3.8 million euros. soles (almost a million dollars).
In this case, Paredes was recently summoned before the Congressional Oversight Commission, where she denied having interfered in the contracts that Espino won with the Government, although she acknowledged that she did work for her company.
He explained that he had known the businessman since 2019 and that he started working for him in August 2021, which is why Espino visited "usually" the Government Palace.
The sister of the first lady specified that the contract she had with Espino’s company was "verbal" and assured that in the images broadcast by the journalistic program she was doing her work for her company, that they were "take a census of the population, collect statistical data on the population to see if it was feasible to carry out a project".
OTHER ARRESTS
Shortly before the proceedings began at the Government Palace, local media reported the arrest of Espino, as well as that of his sister Anggi Espino and that of the mayor of the town of Anguía, in Chota, José Medina Guerrero.
According to the judicial resolution that authorized these four arrests, Castillo would be the "boss" of this alleged criminal organization entrenched in the Executive, with Medina and the current Minister of Transport, Geiner Alvarado, as "ringleaders".
The "coordinators"always according to that version, are presumably the first lady and the president’s family environment, while the Espino brothers and Castillo’s sister-in-law would be the "figureheads".
