Peruvian President Pedro Castillo assured on Thursday that he will attend the summons from the prosecutor’s office to testify this Friday, in a case of alleged corruption for which he is being investigated.
"I will attend all appointments"said the leftist president after a ceremony with indigenous leaders at the government palace in Lima.
"In 11 months they have not been able to find a clue that we have reached out to steal"he added when denying irregularities in his management, which began in July 2021.
The summons is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. local time (3:00 p.m. GMT), but it is unknown if Castillo will attend the prosecutor’s office to testify or if he will receive the prosecutor in charge of the case, Samuel Rojas, in his office.
The prosecution investigates Castillo for alleged crimes of influence peddling, criminal organization and collusion aggravated by a cause that involves his political and family environment.
This is the research on the consortium "Tarata III Bridge"which seeks to determine whether a former Minister of Transportation, six legislators, a former Secretary General of the Presidency and two nephews of Castillo They were part of a supposed criminal network headed by the president to grant a public works contract.
The prosecution plans to interrogate Castillo this Friday, while those under investigation from the presidential environment are in hiding after issuing a preventive detention order against them.
Despite Castillo’s willingness to cooperate with the justice system, his lawyer Benji Espinoza asked at a court hearing on Wednesday to block the prosecutor’s investigation, appealing to the president’s immunity.
Peruvian law prevents the prosecution of a president while he is in power, but does not advance the investigations against him, the prosecution maintains.
The leftist president ends his term in July 2026.
On May 30, Castillo denounced that the prosecution unleashed a "political persecution" against him for this case, but on June 5 he agreed to cooperate and denied any wrongdoing on his part.
A congressional commission agreed on Wednesday to investigate the president for this same case.