The Attorney General of Peru intensifies the pressure against the team investigating the 'Lava Jato case'

[Dark]

The special team of the Prosecutor's Office of Peru that investigates the Lava Jato case is in charge of 40 pieces related to the corruption of Odebrecht that reach, among other political leaders, ex-presidents such as APRA leader Alan García and the leader of the opposition, Keiko Fujimori. However, while these investigators await the arrival of evidence from Brazil, scheduled for January, the siege of the attorney general, Pedro Chávarry, has increased against the two most exposed prosecutors of the team. It's Rafael Vela and José Domingo Pérez. Chávarry took office in July and has the protection of the Fujimorist majority in Congress, which prevents him from being investigated because of his link with the network of corruption in the justice system, called the White Collars of the Port.

The public prosecutor has as adviser a public servant recommended by the Fujimorist Po[CENSORED]r Force bench and counts as a collaborator a former attorney general close to the Aprista Party. The superior prosecutor Vela is the coordinator of the so-called Lava Jato Special Team and Pérez is the provincial prosecutor who, at the end of October, requested the preventive detention of the leader of the Fujimorismo so that he does not obstruct the investigations against him for money laundering. Fujimori is being investigated for the financing of her 2011 electoral campaign, when she allegedly received 1.2 million dollars from the Brazilian construction company.

Since October 31, the eldest daughter of the autocrat Alberto Fujimori has been arrested and a court will decide the appeal of that measure before Christmas. On the night of Thursday, December 7, prosecutors of that team, the Ad Hoc Prosecutor for the Lava Jato case and the Odebrecht superintendent in Peru signed a collaboration agreement that obliges the exejecutives of the company to declare and deliver more evidence for the more than 40 investigations of bribes and campaign funds illegally delivered by the Brazilian firm in Peru.

Prosecutors will secure a large batch of evidence in mid-January, when they travel to Brazil to question more than 20 Odebrecht executives. Through the agreement, the construction company guarantees the validity of the evidence delivered to the Prosecutor's Office since 2017 on these cases. Additionally, the Brazilian giant has committed to protect for 20 years the document archive of its operation in Peru.

After knowing that the construction company will pay 181 million to Peru for civil reparation and accepts that committed crimes in four concessions, one of them the work of Line 1 of the Lima Metro managed during the second Government of Garcia, the hostility of the Attorney General has increased against the most visible members of the Lava Jato team. The interferences consist of internal disciplinary processes, constant requests for information, absolution of written criticism, dismissal of personnel, and the non-assignment of offices.

In July, revelations about the network of corruption in the justice system exploded through audios - legal wiretapping - of judges, prosecutors, businessmen and politicians. Some were talks by the current attorney general with corrupt magistrates, such as the dismissed Supreme Judge César Hinostroza, whose extradition from Spain is pending. Shortly after, before a question on a television program, the provincial prosecutor Perez commented that Chávarry was not "suitable" for the position, and then began investigations against him for "administrative infraction", promoted by the attorney general and encouraged by the fujimorismo. In three months, they have opened 14 disciplinary proceedings.