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Police raid Peruvian President Boluarte's home in luxury watch investigation

Agence France-Presse
March 30, 2024 

Peru's President Dina Boluarte speaks as she meets with foreign press, in Lima, Peru January 24, 2023. © Angela Ponce, Reuters


Peruvian authorities raided President Dina Boluarte's home on Saturday as part of an ongoing corruption investigation related to undisclosed luxury watches.



According to a police document obtained by AFP, about 40 officials were involved in the raid, which was searching for Rolex watches that Boluarte had not publicly declared.

The raid "is for the purpose of search and seizure," police said.

The embattled president did not appear to be home at the time.

Authorities launched an investigation into Boluarte this month after a news outlet drew attention to pictures of her sporting luxury watches at public events.

Saturday's raid, a joint operation between the police and the prosecutor's office, was broadcast on local television channel Latina.

Government agents could be seen surrounding the house in the Surquillo District of the capital Lima while officers blocked oncoming traffic.

The surprise, early-morning raid was requested by the public prosecutor and authorized by the Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation.

It came after prosecutors refused Boluarte's request for more time to respond to a subpoena demanding she furnish proof of purchase for her watches.

'Clean hands'

Already facing declining approval ratings, Boluarte has been plunged into a fresh political crisis with the launch of the probe into whether she has illegally enriched herself while in office.

If she is indicted in the case, a trial could not take place until after her term ends in July 2026 or she is impeached, according to the constitution.


Dozens of journalists descended on the president's house on Saturday but prosecutors and officials at the scene did not respond to questions.

The Peruvian president's office also did not react immediately.

The scandal erupted after local news outlet "La Encerrona" reported in mid-March that Boluarte had worn various Rolex timepieces at official events.

The outlet drew attention to the watches with pictures dating from December 2022, when Boluarte took office.

The government comptroller later announced it would review Boluarte's asset declarations from the past two years to search for any irregularities.

Boluarte, 61, has staunchly defended herself.

"I entered the Government Palace with clean hands, and I will leave it with clean hands," she said last week.

Responding to questions about how she could afford such expensive timepieces on a public salary, she said they were a product of working hard since she was 18 years old.

The lawyer and former vice president became Peru's first woman president after leftist leader Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, leading to his quick ouster and arrest.


Violent protests demanding Boluarte step down and fresh elections be held followed, with almost 50 people killed in the ensuing crackdown.

(REUTERS)

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro indicted over Covid-19 vaccine data fraud

The Supreme Court released the police’s indictment on Tuesday that alleges Bolsonaro and 16 others inserted false information into the public health database to make it appear as though the then-President, his 12-year-old daughter and several others in his circle had received the Covid-19 vaccine

AP/PTI 

Sao Paulo 

Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro

Sao Paulo: Brazil’s federal police have accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of criminal association and falsifying his own Covid-19 vaccination data, marking the first indictment for the embattled far-Right leader with others potentially in store.

The Supreme Court released the police’s indictment on Tuesday that alleges Bolsonaro and 16 others inserted false information into the public health database to make it appear as though the then-President, his 12-year-old daughter and several others in his circle had received the Covid-19 vaccine.

During the pandemic, Bolsonaro was one of the few world leaders railing against the vaccine, openly flouting health restrictions.

His administration ignored several emails from pharmaceutical company Pfizer offering to sell Brazil tens of millions of shots in 2020 and openly criticised a move by Sao Paulo state’s then-governor João Doria to buy vaccines from Chinese company Sinovac when no jabs were otherwise available.

Brazil’s prosecutor-general’s office will have the final say on whether to use the police indictment to file charges against Bolsonaro at the Supreme Court. It stems from one of several investigations targeting Bolsonaro, who governed between 2019 and 2022.

Bolsonaro’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

AP/PTI