Peruvian businesswoman Karelim López, who is being investigated for money laundering, testified as a collaborator before the Public Prosecutor’s Office, where she accused President Pedro Castillo of being involved in a corruption network that operates in his government through the Ministries of Transportation and Communications (MTC) and Housing. Specifically, the businesswoman assured that Castillo ordered the delivery of bids in public road works -between US$ 16 million to US$ 60 million approximately-, linking companies such as China Civil Engineering Construction and the Peruvian company INIP Ingeniería Integración de Proyectos S.A.C.
Lopez said that the main members of the corruption scheme are the former secretary-general of the presidency, Bruno Pacheco, investigated for influence peddling; two nephews of the president; the head of the MTC, Juan Silva; and five parliamentarians of Acción Popular. According to López, Castillo mentioned on more than one occasion that the money collected is used to pay off debts acquired during his campaign for the presidency and that the organization would be protected by the coordinator of the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, senior prosecutor Omar Tello, and the national prosecutor, Zoraida Ávalos.
President Castillo denied the accusations and assured that powerful opponents convinced the businesswoman to declare herself a collaborator and remove her government from office.
