International

National Police raid Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office headquarters

Photo: @FiscaliaPeru

November 28 |

The headquarters of Peru’s Public Prosecutor’s Office dawned Monday under raid by the National Police as authorities investigate the head of the agency, Patricia Benavides, who is accused of involvement in an alleged criminal network and influence peddling.

The operation called Valkiria V was coordinated with the Special Team of Prosecutors against Corruption of Power (Eficcop) and the Division of High Complexity Investigations (Diviac).

It was learned that among those under investigation are also three of Benavides’ advisors: Jaime Villanueva Barreto, Miguel Ángel Girao Isidro and Abel Hurtado Espinoza.

Villanueva, one of the advisors, hours before the raid, apparently forewarned of the raid, went to a clinic although his attempt to evade justice was in vain, the doctors determined that there was no significant medical problem and he was arrested.

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The arrest was carried out as part of a joint operation between Eficcop and the High Complexity Investigations Division (Diviac).

According to local media, the alleged network “instrumentalized the criminal prosecution” since it had the objective of manipulating the decisions of some congressmen in the removal of the heads of the National Justice Board (JNJ), among them the appointment of the ombudsman, Josué Gutiérrez, and the disqualification of Zoraida Ávalos as Attorney of the Nation.

Ávalos herself in a message published in her X account wrote that “what I had been maintaining all these months about my disqualification, today is evidenced with proofs of the plot that was set up against me”.

“It is evidenced that my disqualification responded to a political issue and that Patricia Benavides and her close environment were behind my disqualification”, added the former official.

Benavides would have filed the complaint against 40 congressmen catalogued as Los Niños, last June 15, in exchange for the fact that five days later, part of them voted in favor of Zoraida Ávalos’ disqualification.

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According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation, some of these legislators were considered part of the strategy of the criminal organization led by Benavides.

Related Topics:Patricia Benavides Peru's Public Prosecutor's Office

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