Peru’s attorney general’s office presented a formal accusation against President Dina Boluarte. The case is regarding her use of luxury watches, a national scandal that could lead to removal proceedings.
The formal accusation comes as the leader’s popularity has sunk to a new low according to polls. The complaint accuses Boluarte of receiving a bribe. If Congress moves forward on it, the accusation could lead to Boluarte’s ouster.
Peru’s increasingly rocky politics has claimed Boluarte’s predecessors in recent years. Lawmakers have often played the leading role in launching removal proceedings against the Andean nation’s presidents.
Boluarte, a former vice president, has already faced questioning and police raids over her use of several Rolex watches and other jewellery. This seems at odds with her modest public salary. The president has denied any wrongdoing in the case stating the luxury goods were loaned to her by a local governor.
The graft complaint is the second constitutional complaint facing Boluarte during her less than two-year-old administration.
Peru’s attorney general also filed a complaint against the president last November over her handling of deadly social unrest after the ouster of her predecessor.
Former president Pedro Castillo tried to illegally dissolve Congress in late 2022 before a vote to remove him from office. His ouster and arrest plunged the country into weeks of angry and sometimes violent protests that claimed at least 40 lives.
With inputs from Reuters
Traveller, bibliophile and wordsmith with a yen for international relations. A journalist and budding author of short fiction, life is a daily struggle to uncover the latest breaking story while attempting to be Hemingway in the self-same time. Focussed especially on Europe and West Asia, discussing Brexit, the Iran crisis and all matters related is a passion that endures to this day. Believes firmly that life without the written word is a life best not lived. That’s me, Ashwin Ahmad.
