LIMA: Following a raid on her residence and workplace as part of an investigation into corruption, the prosecutor’s office in Peru issued an order on Sunday requiring President Dina Boluarte to provide any Rolex watches she may have.
Boluarte, 61, is under investigation for alleged acts of illicit enrichment and neglecting to report a number of high-end timepieces that she has been seen wearing since taking office in 2022 after her predecessor was arrested.
The prosecutor’s office stated that when she makes her sworn statement on April 5, “the president of the republic has been formally summoned to exhibit the Rolex watches.”
The prosecutor’s office released a statement claiming that during a dawn raid on Saturday, during which dramatic television video showed investigators smashing down Boluarte’s door, they had not discovered the expensive watches.
“Additional elements of interest for the investigation were obtained,” however. Documents proving the exact day one of the watches was acquired were discovered, according to local media.
On Saturday, Mateo Castaneda, Boluarte’s attorney, informed the media that the police had discovered a few watches during their investigation.
They didn’t remove them, either. They were recorded and captured on camera. Castaneda told radio station RPP, “There were about ten of them, and there were some nice ones among them, but I cannot say if they were Rolex.”
Boluarte denounced the raids as “arbitrary, disproportionate, and abusive” in a speech to the people. Prosecutors denied Boluarte’s request for further time to reply to a subpoena requesting that she provide evidence of purchase for her watches, which prompted the raid.
If she disclosed the Rolex watches on her income records, that is another question the prosecutors want answered.
