Peru prosecutors seek to bar toppled president from leaving country

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Anti-graft prosecutors in Peru on Wednesday asked a judge to bar President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski from leaving the South American country hours after he announced his resignation in the face of near-certain impeachment, a judiciary source said.

Kuczynski, a 79-year-old former Wall Street banker who once held US citizenship, is guaranteed presidential immunity from prosecution until Congress formally accepts his resignation and Vice President Martin Vizcarra is sworn in to replace him.

Luis Galarreta, the president of Congress, said that would probably happen on Friday.

Kuczynski denies wrongdoing and has promised to cooperate with a graft probe into his connections to Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company that has acknowledged bribing officials across Latin America.

Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski addresses the nation as he resigns at the Presidential Palace in Lima, Peru, March 21, 2018. /VCG Photo

The right-wing opposition party that controls Congress, Popular Force, first sought to force Kuczynski from office in December after revealing he failed to disclose payments Odebrecht made to his Florida-based consulting firm while he held public office in a previous government.

Kuczynski had vowed not to resign for months, blaming the right-wing opposition for constant scandals that he said had made it impossible for him to govern Peru, one of Latin America's most stable markets and the world's No. 2 producer of copper.

But secret audio and video recordings released this week ensnared Kuczynski in vote-buying allegations that prompted even his staunchest supporters to demand he step down.

Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski leaves Government Palace after presenting his resignation to Congress in Lima, Peru, March 21, 2018. /VCG Photo‍

Kuczynski said the material, in which his allies are heard offering access to lucrative public work contracts in exchange for political support, had been edited as part of a relentless campaign to malign him.

But the hostile political climate had become untenable, he added.

"I think what's best for the country is for me to resign...I don't want to be an obstacle for the nation's search for a path to unity and harmony," Kuczynski said in a pre-recorded video televised as he was driven from the presidential palace to his home in Lima's financial district.

Trump to head to Peru

Kuczynski said as a candidate in 2016 that he had renounced his US citizenship in order to launch his bid. Last month, US Ambassador to Peru Krishna Urs declined to confirm that Kuczynski no longer had citizenship.

Kuczynski's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Peru has a history of jailing former presidents, and of presidents fleeing.

Former authoritarian president Alberto Fujimori fled Peru for his parents' native Japan as his decade in power ended in a corruption scandal and protests.

Last year, former president Ollanta Humala, Kuczynski's predecessor, was ordered up to 18 months in pre-trial detention while prosecutors prepared charges related to Odebrecht.

Peruvian first vice presidential candidate of the "Peruanos por el Kambio" (PPK-Peruvians for Change) party, Martin Vizcarra, applauds during a victory announcement in Lima, June 8, 2016. /VCG Photo

Kuczynski had been scheduled to welcome Donald Trump on the US president's first visit to Latin America next month, when many regional leaders plan to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to pursue democratic reforms.

Kuczynski, who called Maduro a "dictator", had led regional criticism of his government while opening the door to Venezuelan migrants fleeing the country's economic crisis.

A White House official, speaking on background, said Trump still plans to attend the summit and declined to comment on Peru's domestic political situation.

Instead of Kuczynski, Trump will meet Vizcarra at the Summit of the Americas that Peru will host on April 13 and 14.

Source(s): Reuters