Peruvian law students from the Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Políticas, Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco are reporting for JURIST on law-related events in or affecting Perú. All of them are from CIED (Centro de Investigación de los Estudiantes de Derecho, a student research center in UNSAAC’s faculty of law dedicated to spreading legal information and improving legal culture through study and research, promoting critical and reflective debate to contribute to the development of the country. Samanta Berenice Chavez Quispe is a law student from UNSAAC and a member of CIED. She files this dispatch from Cusco.
Over two weeks have passed since the last public statement made by the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte. During this time she has been carrying out different errands but away from journalists so as avoid saying anything about the latest events that have arisen in the country, mainly about the alleged commission of the crime of illicit enrichment and omission of documentation by the president of Peru.
President Dina Boluarte wore Rolex watches at different official events, as well as some high-value jewelry, which were not declared to the corresponding institutions. The watches are high-end and have an estimated value of $32,000 and the jewelry has an estimated value of $161,700. In addition to this, the increase in her assets was observed, specifically in her bank accounts and deposits of unknown origin. For all these reasons, the Attorney General’s Office initiated preliminary proceedings for the alleged crimes of illicit enrichment and omission of documentation.
On April 5, the president went to the prosecutor’s office to give her statements about the Rolex case, she was there for 5 hours. Then she went to the government palace and called a press conference, that would be the last statement she gave prior to this writing. At that press conference she changed the version given on March 15 when she mentioned that it was “a jewel of yesteryear, the result of his efforts”; thus declaring on April 5 that the pink watch was a loan from Wilfredo Oscorima (current regional president of Ayacucho).
In the words of Dina Boluarte, on May 31, 2023, Wilfredo Oscorima bought a woman’s pink watch and that same day he entered the government palace at 4 pm to greet the president, and offered her the watch as a gift, but she he rejected it, accepting only a loan, thus implying that the watches were lent; a similar version was told by Werner Salcedo (regional president of Cusco) with watches that were also lent by Oscorima.
With his statement we can see that the crime of illicit enrichment is established, since, in the Peruvian Penal Code, article 401, it says: “The official or public servant who, abusing his position, illicitly increases his assets with respect to his legitimate income”, thus indicating that the criminal offense is constituted by the receipt of any benefit or advantage that has an illicit origin. So was a loan of jewelry and watches lawful? No, public officials are prohibited from accepting gifts.
Likewise, in Cassation No. 277-2018, issued in March 2019 by the Permanent Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Peru, it is detailed that for the configuration of this crime, property is not required just the possession, this jurisprudential criterion is another foundation that clarifies the current situation.
Dina Boluarte is in a complicated situation, since by her own words and actions she would be proving that she committed a crime. In recent years it is not so surprising that public officials commit crimes like this, but it seems that the population is weary of the lack of true justice.
