The Albany Gazette - Prosecutors interrogate Peru president over Rolex scandal

Attorney General Juan Carlos Villena "initiated the process of taking statements" from Boluarte, who has been ordered to present the undeclared luxury timepieces to investigators, his office wrote on X.

She has also been asked to produce receipts and explain the origin of her valuables as part of the probe into illegal enrichment.

The questioning could last several hours and comes after the police raided her home and presidential office on March 30 in search of the alleged collection, which is said to include at least three high-value Rolex watches, according to photographs published by local media.

The government hopes Boluarte's statement will put an end to a scandal that provoked two motions to impeach her, both defeated by the right-wing majority in Congress on Thursday.

"I presume that after this explanation there will be no choice for the prosecutor's office but to close this investigation," Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen said Thursday.

He said Boluarte "will know how to explain what happened."

The attorney general is also seeking an explanation for Boluarte's possession of a "$56,000 Cartier bracelet" and other jewelry valued at more than $500,000. Bank deposits of about $250,000 from her time as a cabinet minister in 2021 and 2022 are also being investigated.

Boluarte is the sixth president in the last quarter century to face corruption charges in Peru.

She is also the sixth president the country has had in just eight years.

The media investigation which prompted the probe against her revealed she had worn various Rolex watches to official events as vice president and minister of development, before taking over in 2022 from predecessor Pedro Castillo.

Boluarte has said the watches were the fruit of hard work.

"I entered the presidential palace with clean hands and I will leave with clean hands, as I promised the Peruvian people," Boluarte said last week, slamming the raids as "arbitrary, disproportionate and abusive."

The president is already facing approval ratings of around 10 percent, and has had a torrid time in office since taking over from Castillo, who tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, leading to his arrest and impeachment.

In 2023, prosecutors opened an investigation in which she stands accused of "genocide, homicide and serious injuries," for the death of more than 50 protesters during a crackdown on demonstrations demanding she resign and call fresh elections.

(T.Brown--TAG)