An important witness in the corruption case of a former Mayor of Peru’s capital Lima, has been found dead at his home, Peru’s prosecutors say that less than three months before the test began.
Jose Miguel Castro, who was living under home arrest, was a municipal officer during Suzana Willaran’s tenure as Mayor from 2011 to 2014.
He was a co-operator in testing with Ms. Willaran, who is accused of receiving a bribe of $ 10m (£ 7.3m) from Brazil’s construction firms.
In 2019, Ms. Willaran admitted to receive funds from these companies, but denied that she was bribes. Mr. Castro was collaborating with the prosecutors on the investigation. The cause of his death is not yet known.
“He was the second most important person behind Ms. Willaran,” prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez told Peru News Channel Canal N.
He said, “We were expecting his valuable contribution”.
75 -year -old Ms. Willaran is accused of collusion, money laundering and creating a criminal organization, received millions of dollars from construction companies – now called Novonore – and OAS.
Prosecutors said that Mr. Castro was the second-in-command of the alleged criminal organization.
In 2019, Ms. Willaran admitted to taking funds from Odebrech and OAS to finance her 2013 mayoral campaign to stay in the office, but refused that she formed a bribe.
The test is scheduled to begin on 23 September.
Ms. Villaran is one of the many politicians from Peru, who is implicated in the Odibrect scandal.
In 2016, the Brazilian manufacturing company accepted to bribe authorities in Latin America and parts of Africa to receive construction contracts.
Several former Peruian presidents have been investigated, including Olanta Humala, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this year, and Alejandro Toledo, who was sentenced to more than 20 years in jail last year.
Another former leader, Allen Garcia, killed himself as officers who arrived at his house to arrest him in 2019.
An investigation is going on against another former President, Pedro Pablo Kukzinski. He denies the allegations.
