A $38k Rolex led to a president’s home being raided – and could get her sacked
Lima: Peruvian President Dina Boluarte is facing attempts to remove her from office for “permanent moral incapacity” amid a scandal about the ownership of at least three luxury watches.
The move to oust Boluarte from power came three days after police broke down the front door of her residence to search for the Rolex watches as part of an investigation.
Peruvian president Dina Boluarte, seen with Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso, has come under fire for her watch collection.Credit: Bloomberg
Boluarte, who took power in 2022 after her predecessor was impeached for illegally trying to dissolve congress, saw the beginning of her term marked by protests and the ensuing crackdown that left dozens dead.
She hung on, despite widespread calls for her resignation or to bring forward elections, but is now facing renewed calls to step down over the scandal. Market research firm Ipsos measured Boluarte’s unpopularity rate at 88 per cent in March.
Protesters calling for the resignation of President Dina Boluarte in Lima, Peru, in July.Credit: Bloomberg
The Rolex Scandal
Boluarte is being preliminarily investigated for allegedly acquiring an undisclosed collection of luxury watches since becoming vice president and social inclusion minister in July 2021 and then president in December 2022.
In March, a popular political YouTube show La Encerrona reviewed thousands of photos of Boluarte and found she wore a number of Rolex watches worth between $21,000 and $38,000.
On March 18, the Peru’s prosecutor’s office announced “preliminary proceedings” against Boluarte for alleged “illicit enrichment” and failure to declare ownership of the expensive Rolex watches in documents.
Raiding the president’s house
Armed police officers broke down the front door of Boluarte’s house with a battering ram on Good Friday in search of Rolex watches. The raid marked the first time in Peru’s history that police forcibly entered the home of a sitting president.
Prosecutors said they had requested the watches from Boluarte, but they had not been handed in and the raid produced “elements of interest” for the investigation.
Police guard outside President Dina Boluarte’s house during a raid ordered by the attorney-general’s Office.Credit: AP
Local media outlets published documents from the raid showing at least one Rolex watch, a Datejust 36 model with a purchase date of July 8, 2023. A similar model on Rolex’s website costs at least $22,700.
Eight lower-priced watches from other brands were found in the Government Palace, according to local media reports. Boluarte’s annual salary as president is about $77,000, with expenses and housing paid for by the state.
What happens next
Mostly left-wing opposition legislators presented a motion in Congress on Monday to begin Boluarte’s impeachment for “permanent moral incapacity”. Only 26 of 130 legislators are needed to start the process, 52 votes are needed to debate the impeachment in Congress and 87 are needed to impeach.
Boluarte has already survived two attempts to start impeachment proceedings but both failed to receive the required 52 votes. Impeachment is unlikely since right-wing legislators have a majority in congress and support her.
Six of Boluarte’s ministers, including the interior minister, resigned over the scandal on Monday.
Gustavo Adrianzen, who took over as prime minister in March, must be confirmed by Congress on Wednesday and if he fails the vote of confidence, Boluarte’s entire cabinet must resign.
What happened to Peru’s other presidents?
Peru’s politics are highly polarised and the constitution allows presidents to be impeached for “moral incapacity” – a subjective measure that’s been used to impeach several former leaders.
Almost all high-ranking officials or former Peruvian presidents have been investigated or have been involved in corruption cases in the last three decades.
After being elected in 2016, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned prior to a likely conviction after being successfully impeached in 2018 amid a corruption scandal. His vice president, Martin Vizcarra, then took over but was also impeached for “permanent moral incapacity” due to corruption charges in 2020.
Manuel Merino took over as president for just five days, resigning after two protest deaths in Lima. Francisco Sagasti then took power for a year until leftist outsider Pedro Castillo was elected in 2021.
Castillo was impeached in December for trying to dissolve congress. Castillo is now jailed in the same prison as another former president Alejandro Toledo. They shared the prison with former president Alberto Fujimori who was released last December after a pardon.
Reuters, AP
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.