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PERU: Vice
President Accused of Corruption
By Ángel Páez
LIMA,(IPS) - Vice President Luis Giampietri,
accused of taking a hand in irregular arms
deals in the 1990s, has the dubious
distinction of being the highest-ranking
member of the Peruvian government to face
criminal charges for corruption.
Giampietri, a retired vice admiral of the
navy, is acting president while President
Alan García is on a trip to Japan, Singapore
and South Korea.
The accusations refer to the period when
Giampietri was in charge of arms procurement
for the Navy, in 1994 and 1995. Former
president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), then
in office, is now serving long prison
sentences for human rights violations and
corruption.
Lawmaker Victor Andrés García of the
opposition Parliamentary Alliance has
presented a motion to remove Giampietri from
office because of the accusations.
"We propose the vice presidency be declared
vacant due to moral incapacity, because
Giampietri has been charged by a prosecutor
for extremely serious crimes," García told
IPS.
"Giampietri faces criminal charges, and
therefore lacks the moral capacity to
replace the head of state," he added. "Until
his legal situation is clarified, he is
incapable of representing the nation."
After a five-year investigation,
anti-corruption prosecutor Marlene Berrú
concluded that Giampietri was responsible
for the questionable arms purchases for the
Navy in 1994 and 1995.
According to Berrú, he used his position to
favour supply companies belonging to members
of a corrupt network headed by then
presidential security adviser Vladimiro
Montesinos.
Giampietri is alleged to have approved
purchases of military equipment from
companies specifically selected by
Montesinos, who received millions of dollars
in commissions in return, subsequently found
in accounts in his name in Switzerland.
The vice president is accused of collusion
and conspiracy to commit a crime, along with
30 other naval officers who participated in
buying cutting-edge equipment like missiles,
torpedos and engines for a total of 45.9
million dollars.
Giampietri publicly stated that Berrú's
accusation "is untenable and lacks
foundation." "I appeared three times to
clear myself of these charges, because I
have nothing to fear," he said.
He also said the purchase deals did not do
the state any harm, "because the equipment
that was bought arrived in the country and
was used for national defence."
Berrú said whether or not the equipment
reached the Navy arsenals was not the point;
the problem was that the bidding procedure
was rigged in favour of companies owned by
Israeli citizen Moshe Rothschild and
Peruvians Enrique Benavides and Claus
Corpancho.
As has been proved by the justice system,
these company owners bribed Montesinos in
order to secure armed forces contracts for
their goods.
Rothschild and Benavides have been fugitives
from justice since 2001, and Corpancho has
been in prison in Lima since 2007, when he
was extradited from Spain.
Rothschild, Benavides and Corpancho
organised the sale to Peru of 36 MiG-29
warplanes from Belarus for 410 million
dollars, between 1996 and 1997, a
transaction for which, as Fujimori admitted,
Montesinos took a bribe.
"We do not advocate removing Giampietri as
first vice president. But we view it as
improper that a person accused by a
prosecutor should be acting president," said
Daniel Abugattás, spokesman for the
opposition Peruvian Nationalist Party (PNP).
"Indeed, a person facing such a serious
charge should not be in an important post
until his situation has been clarified," he
said.
Giampietri was also involved in the trial of
those responsible for the 1986 massacre
committed by naval forces when quelling a
riot by Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path)
suspects at the El Frontón prison, which
left at least 118 inmates dead. Alan García,
then in his first term as president
(1985-1990), is one of the accused.
In 2002, Giampietri was elected city
councillor for Lima for the pro-Fujimori
party Vamos Vecino, and in 2005 he joined
the Chimpún Callao political movement headed
by Alex Kouri, the mayor of Callao, Peru's
main port.
Kouri was filmed on video negotiating with
Montesinos to get one of his relatives,
prosecuted for drug trafficking, out of
jail. On another tape, Kouri's brother
Albert, a former lawmaker, was recorded
receiving a bribe from Montesinos.
In 2006, Giampietri ran for vice president
on Alan García's presidential ticket as a
result of an alliance between the now
governing Peruvian Aprista Party (PAP) and
Chimpún Callao.
Giampietri was the PAP candidate for the
first vice presidency and for Congress, in
spite of having been accused in 2003 of
involvement with irregular arms purchases by
an investigating commission chaired by PAP
legislator Javier Velásquez.
The commission's report was sent to
prosecutor Berrú, who confirmed the
allegations against Giampietri. Velásquez,
his accuser, is now prime minister.
"It's unacceptable for a person accused of
crimes against the state to hold high
government office," lawmaker Víctor Andrés
García said. "It's unacceptable that we
should be governed by persons under a cloud
of corruption. Other high government
officials have been removed for far less."
PAP congressman Edgar Núñez said the
accusations against Giampietri are
politically motivated, and that the vice
president would be cleared in court.
"There are no grounds for the accusation,"
Núñez told IPS. "Giampietri is a
demonstrably honest person. Congressman
Víctor Andrés García's motion to remove the
vice president is an irresponsible
exaggeration, because the presumption of
innocence should prevail, especially in the
case of a high official."
When Giampietri stood for the vice
presidency and Congress, he did not mention
on his curriculum, as required by law, that
he had been involved in a congressional
investigation and was under investigation by
anti-corruption prosecutors.
"I was only obeying orders," Giampietri said
at the time. "No naval officer took a
bribe."
Giampietri may have been telling the truth
about obeying orders, because among the
company owners who benefited from his
decisions about the contracts was Víctor
Posso, the brother-in-law of then naval
commander Américo Ibárcena, who was
Giampietri's direct superior.
Ibárcena was also a member of Montesinos'
vast network of corruption, and is now
serving time in prison for corruption (as is
Montesinos himself, considered the eminence
grise during the Fujimori administration).
Giampietri is the deputy head of Chimpún
Callao, the PAP-allied organisation, which
is also facing prosecution for corruption.
Alex Kouri, its leader, was prosecuted for
the construction, at inflated prices, of a
toll system on an access highway to the
international airport while he was mayor of
Callao.
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