Peru: President's home searched for undeclared luxury watches

The home of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte was raided. searched Saturday shortly after midnight as part of an investigation for illicit enrichment relating to luxury watches that she is suspected of not having declared. ;eacute; in its heritage.

The government headquarters was also searched “in accordance with the court order”, police Colonel Harvey Colchado told the press, without specifying whether any items had been seized.< /p>

In a brief message on the X network, the Peruvian presidency indicated that the operation at the government headquarters had taken place “normally and without incident”.

Police entered Ms. Boluarte's house, in Surquillo, east of Lima, shortly after midnight, after forcing the door with an iron bar, according to television images.

Other images show police surrounding his home and forming a human barrier to prevent car traffic on adjacent streets.

According to a police document, to which the AFP had access, around forty agents and magistrates were mobilized “with the aim of searching the house and seizing the Rolex watches”. The government headquarters was raided a few hours later.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte at the presidential palace in Lima, January 24, 2023 © AFP – Cris BOURONCLE

Peruvian Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzén (center-right) denounced to the press “an intolerable attack on the dignity of the Presidency of the Republic and the nation it represents”.< /p>

“The ministers of state express their solidarity with the president and firmly reject these destabilizing political actions, which are based on questionable jurisdictional provisions,” he added on X.

According to the government, at the time of the searches, Ms. Boluarte was in her residence within the Government Palace. The president will continue to “collaborate with the prosecutor’s office” indicated Mr. Adrianzén on 60~p>The police intervention was carried out at the request of the public prosecutor after the prosecution's rejection of Ms. Boluarte's request to postpone an appearance during which she was to present her collection of watches and the proof of purchase.

Police officers stand guard in front of the house of President Dina Boluarte during a search ordered by the Attorney General's Office as part of an investigation into “illicit enrichment”, in Lima, March 30, 2024 © AFP – Juan Carlos CISNEROS

In the event of prosecution, the Peruvian president cannot, under the Constitution, be subject to trial before July 2026, the date of the end of her mandate.

The Rolex scandal erupted after a local news site, La Encerrona, published a series of photos on March 15 showing Ms. Boluarte sporting various luxury watches. luxury while she was in government in 2021 and 2022.

On March 19, the general prosecutor's office announced the opening of a preliminary investigation for “illicit enrichment and non-declaration of use of Rolex watches”.

In the process, Ms. Boluarte assured that she had “clean hands” and only owned one watch, one model not recent purchased with savings.

“I entered the Government Palace with clean hands and I will leave with clean hands, as I promised the Peruvian people”, had- she affirmed.

The president, aged 61, is already the subject of an investigation for “genocide, aggravated homicide and serious injury” after the death of more of 50 people during the two months of social unrest that accompanied her accession to the head of state.

Dina Boluarte became president after the impeachment in early December 2022 and the arrest of the 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.

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