(Lima) The Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered President Dina Boluarte to produce the Rolex watches in her possession when she was summoned on Friday to testify as part of an investigation into alleged illicit enrichment.
The president’s home was searched on Saturday as part of this investigation into luxury watches that she is suspected of not having declared as part of her assets.
“The President of the Republic was formally summoned to present the Rolex watches and make her statement on Friday April 5,” the public prosecutor said in a statement sent to the press on Sunday.
Furthermore, he stressed that during the searches of his home and the government palace, these valuable items were not found and that the president did not hand them over.
PHOTO MARTIN MEJIA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police and prosecutors stand outside President Dina Boluarte’s house during a raid to seize luxury watches.
The public prosecutor, however, added that “other elements of interest for the investigation have been obtained”. Media reported that documents revealing the date one of the watches was obtained had been found.
In an address to the nation, Mme Boluarte denounced the search of his home as “arbitrary, disproportionate and abusive”, proof of “systematic harassment” against him.
Mr. Boluarte’s defense said on Saturday that police found watches during searches of the government palace. Lawyer Mateo Castañeta said that “there were some nice watches, but I can’t say how many of them were Rolexes.”
The Rolex scandal erupted after a local news site, La Encerrona, published a series of photos on March 15 showing Mme Boluarte wearing different luxury watches while in government in 2021 and 2022.
On March 19, the public prosecutor’s office announced the opening of a preliminary investigation for “illicit enrichment and non-declaration of use of Rolex watches.”
Mme Boluarte, aged 61, assured that she had “clean hands” and only owned a watch.
She became president after the impeachment in early December 2022 and the arrest of left-wing head of state Pedro Castillo, of whom she was vice-president.
At the beginning of March she had to change prime minister, Alberto Otarola having announced his resignation after the opening of an investigation for influence peddling following the broadcast of audio recordings compromising him. This close friend of the president took office in December 2022.