PERU, Lima (AP) — Peru’s interim President José Jerí appeared Wednesday before a congressional oversight committee to address unregistered meetings with two Chinese business owners — clandestine encounters that have triggered a criminal probe and calls for his removal.
The crisis is the latest chapter in a prolonged political collapse in a country that has seen seven presidents since 2016, and is about to hold a general election amid widespread public outcry over a surge in violent crime.
Jerí has denied wrongdoing. On Tuesday, in an interview with Peruvian TV station América, he rejected calls for his resignation, characterizing the opposition’s actions as a “destabilizing” maneuver aimed at influencing a general election scheduled for April 12.
Jerí — who assumed power in October after Congress ousted President Dina Boluarte in a lightning overnight impeachment — is under fire for failing to log official meetings, a legal requirement for Peruvian leaders.
He explained that, between the end of December and the beginning of January, he met with business owner Yang Zhihua at a restaurant and later at a wholesale store because he wanted to eat Chinese food and buy candy, respectively. His presence at the restaurant on the evening of Dec. 26, with his head covered by a hood and carrying a bag, aroused suspicions from the opposition about possible irregularities.
Yang, whom Jerí calls “Johnny,” owns the Chinese restaurant and the store, but he also secured a concession in 2023 to build a hydroelectric plant in the Andes, which he has not yet delivered. The president also indicated that he was unaware of the background of another Chinese business owner, Ji Wu Xiaodong, who entered the presidential palace three times, despite being under house arrest and prohibited from leaving his home due to an investigation into his alleged involvement with a criminal organization engaged in illegal logging in the Amazon.
Jerí maintained the meetings were intended to coordinate Peruvian-Chinese Friendship Day on Feb. 1 — a nod to China’s decade-long status as Peru’s top trading partner. He said Ji Wu was merely “serving food” at the restaurant and remained silent during palace visits because “he doesn’t speak much Spanish.” However, Ji Wu is listed as a registered Chinese-to-Spanish translator in Peru’s ministry of foreign affairs.
Earlier this week, Peru’s attorney general’s office said it has launched a preliminary investigation against Jerí for the alleged crimes of influence peddling and illegal lobbying.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office on Monday confirmed to The Associated Press that the preliminary investigation is “confidential.” Jerí sent a letter to Attorney General Tomás Gálvez indicating his “willingness to cooperate” with the investigation and to provide “statements and clarifications as needed,” according to a copy of the letter sent to the international press by the presidential office.
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