Chifagate: Peru’s Interim President Faces Corruption Suspicions After Secret Meetings

Key Points

• Peru’s interim president was filmed in two unlogged visits with a China-linked businessman, then shifted his explanation.
• A reported S/112 million ($33 million) bus-surveillance plan turned a bad look into a high-stakes integrity test.
• With elections on April 12, 2026, and a handover due July 28, the scandal threatens political survival and policy continuity.

Peru’s interim president, José Jerí, promised momentum. Instead, his first 100 days are being defined by a scene that looked small at first: a late-night dinner.

On December 26, security cameras in Lima’s San Borja district captured a hooded man arriving in “el Cofre,” the presidential vehicle.

He entered a Chinese-Peruvian restaurant after hours and met privately with Zhihua Yang, a businessman known in Lima’s networks as “Johnny.” A TV investigation identified the visitor as Jerí.

What turned the footage into a scandal was not only the secrecy. It was the narrative drift. Jerí first said the meeting linked to preparations for a Peru–China friendship celebration scheduled at the presidential palace on February 1.

Days later he said he did not call the meeting and attended as an invitee for unspecified private activities. Then, in a late-night video posted by the government, he apologized, denied wrongdoing.

And added another twist: the man accompanying him, seen wearing a cap, was Interior Minister Vicente Tiburcio. The story then gained a second act.

On January 6, another TV program aired footage showing Jerí visiting a Yang-linked Chinese-goods minimarket on jirón Paruro in central Lima. Authorities had closed the shop. Jerí appeared again with Yang, wearing dark glasses, visibly tense during a phone call.

Behind the images sits the real question: access to the state. A respected Peruvian weekly reported that the relationship overlapped with interest in a plan to install surveillance cameras in 8,000 public buses for S/112 million (about $33 million).

Peru’s transport authority says the process is open, not awarded, and not connected to Yang. Peru’s timing makes everything sharper. Jerí entered office on October 10, 2025 after Congress removed Dina Boluarte.

He is meant to govern until July 28, 2026, with elections on April 12. Prosecutors have opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged influence peddling.

China is Peru’s top trade partner, and the Chancay port is tightening the Pacific link. In that context, a private dinner is never just dinner.

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