Peru: Congress Speaker to be removed?

[Judi Lynn]

Saturday, August 19th 2023 - 10:28 UTCFull article0 comments

The new Speaker of Peru's one-house Congress, first in line to succeed President Dina Booluarte in case of vacancy, has stepped under the spotlight following a barrage of allegations linking him to cases of corruption.

In this scenario, leftwing Congressman Roberto Sánchez said Alejandro Soto's “hours are numbered.” Sánchez also warned things were getting worse and the alliance among the right-wing Fuerza Popular (FP), the left-wing Perú Libre (PL), and the center-right Alianza Para el Progreso (APP) that picked Soto for the post will remain strong.

Soto emerged at the end of July as the choice of FP and PL to preside over Congress, apparently because of his low profile. However, details about Soto that went first unnoticed began to appear. According to press reports, he has up to 55 judicial processes for different matters and things took a turn for the worse worse when it was revealed he withheld information from the National Jury of Elections (JNE), hired a sister-in-law as his assistant, and promoted a law that favored him in a personal litigation he has with a company that accuses him of swindling.

Transportes Wayna Picchu of Cusco bought a house in 2012 for US$ 265,000, with Soto -a company legal advisor by then- believed to be the middle-man when instead he was the owner of the property he had purchased from local peasants for only US$ 5,000. For this action, he was guilty of fraud and fined. However, the verdict was up in the air when Congress passed a law modifying the statute of limitations, which favored Soto. Now the press has documented that it was the beneficiary himself who promoted this law.

More:
https://en.mercopress.com/2023/08/19/peru-congress-speaker-to-be-removed