Roberto ‘Beto’ Torres, former mayor of
Chiclayo is in the big house. His new address is c/o the federal prison in the
town of Picsi. Beto was sentenced to an initial 18 months after pleading guilty
to charges of money laundering, criminal conspiracy and corruption of
officials. Beto changed his plea from innocent to guilty after being confronted
with a notebook found in his house listing business transactions including
names and dollar amounts. He has pledged to cooperate with authorities during
the ongoing investigation.
The 18 month sentence is just the
beginning. During this period judges will be deciding on the merits of at least
10 separate charges, which could conceivably lead to a 30 year prison term.
During country-wide elections for mayor and
regional presidents held this month, at least1300 candidates are known to have criminal
records. Peru law allows convicted felons to run for and hold office if a court has declared them to be ‘rehabilitated’.
Presumably each of the 1300 rehabilitated candidates is dedicated to running a
clean administration.
Chiclayo’s new mayor David Cornejo Chinguel takes
office January 2. He has pledged to “…eliminate the scourge of corruption and
theft in government”. Vamos a ver.
It's a shame that a man like this was allowed to serve for so long and using taxpayer funds as if it was his own piggy bank. I mentioned your article on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteHi Steve! Good to hear from you again!
DeleteTom