Peru's president faces impeachment over alleged corruption

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Lawmakers in Peru's opposition-ruled Congress filed a motion on Friday to impeach center-right President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on grounds he was morally unfit to lead after he resisted calls to resign over alleged corruption.

Kuczynski vowed to fight for his political life in a defiant speech just before midnight on Thursday and denied anything improper about payments that a company he owns received a decade ago from scandal-plagued Brazilian builder Odebrecht.

But a government source said Kuczynski, a 79-year-old former Wall Street banker, and his cabinet were aware that his chances of holding onto power were slim.

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (C) attends a ceremony at the Air Force base in Lima, Peru, December 14, 2017. /Reuters Photo

By refusing to resign, Kuczynski hopes he can clear his name of the graft allegations and defend due process, said a source who asked not to be named. Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio told Kuczynski he is planning to resign, the source and a second government source said.

"The less harmful option for Peru would be his resignation. He's forcing us to impeach him," said opposition lawmaker Lourdes Alcorta.

Odebrecht has rocked Latin American politics with its public confession in a leniency deal a year ago that it orchestrated sophisticated kickback schemes across a dozen countries for more than a decade – landing elites in jail from Colombia to the Dominican Republic and nearly toppling a president in Brazil.

Peru's Congress President Luis Galarreta (L) and Congressmen Mauricio Mulder attend a session to file a motion to impeach President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at the Congress in Lima, Peru, December 15, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Now banned from new bids in Peru, the company once won lucrative contracts and built ambitious projects across the South American country, from a highway that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Amazon to a 12-mile-long (19.3 kilometers) irrigation tunnel it drilled through the Andes.

Two former presidents in Peru, Ollanta Humala and Alejandro Toledo, have been ensnared in the Odebrecht probe over allegations they deny. Humala was jailed pending trial in July and authorities are now seeking Toledo's extradition from the United States.

Opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, whom Kuczynski unexpectedly defeated in last year's presidential election, is also under investigation and denies wrongdoing.

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Source(s): Reuters