Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office opens investigation against Minister of Culture

On Monday, November 14, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Peru opened a preliminary investigation against the head of the Ministry of Culture, Betssy Chávez, for having incurred in the alleged irregular hiring of close associates in public positions.

The Prosecutor’s Office announced through its Twitter social network account, where it assured that the investigation against the official is framed in the alleged crimes of “incompatible negotiation or taking advantage of the position and aggravated influence peddling”.

“It was ordered to initiate preliminary proceedings for the clarification of the facts under investigation, related to the alleged hiring of close associates in positions in the State,” he said.

The Public Ministry took the measure after the Sunday journalistic program “Cuarto Poder” broadcasted a report on alleged irregularities in hiring two relatives of Abel Sotelo, a businessman sentimentally linked to Chavez in public positions.

According to what was broadcasted by the program of the private channel América Televisión, the businessman’s father, Antonio Sotelo, was appointed last January as representative of the Ministry of Labor before the National Council of the National Service of Industrial Work Training (Senati).

After that, he would have been appointed head of the Agency for the Formalization of Informal Property (Cofopri), the TV program added.

These appointments would have been made through a ministerial resolution signed by the current Minister of Culture when she was head of the Ministry of Labor between October 2021 and May 2022.

Likewise, the businessman’s brother, Marco Antonio Sotelo, was hired as an assistant in the minister’s parliamentary office for five months, even though he did not meet the relevant requirements for the position.

The Prosecutor of the Nation, Patricia Benavides, ordered that a series of diligences be carried out to establish the responsibilities of the case, among them the taking of statements from Chavez, Abel Sotelo and his relatives, in addition to requesting information from several State entities.

With information from Xinhua