Peru: Court rejects halting Vizcarra's impeachment case

ANKARA

Peru's Constitutional Court rejected a measure Thursday requested by President Martin Vizcarra that would have suspended his impeachment process.

The court's decision came in a 5-2 vote, said high court President Marianella Ledesma.

The vote came one day before a second session of impeachment voting, where Vizcarra will respond to accusations he lied and obstructed an investigation into a corruption probe.

Congress voted last Friday to start the impeachment process after audio recordings of the president surfaced.

The recordings in a case known as “Richard Swing,” involves a singer hired to give motivational talks to the Culture Ministry.

Richard Cisneros is accused of using his friendship with Vizcarra to obtain nine contracts ranging from 7,000 soles to 33,400 soles ($2,000 to $9,500), despite lacking experience.

In one recording, Vizcarra appears to admit he met Cisneros several times at the presidential palace during the coronavirus pandemic, and instructed his staff to lie about the meetings.

The president has said that there is "nothing illegal" in the recordings and the release of the tapes is part of a plot by political opponents to remove him from office.