The president of Peru’s Supreme Court has resigned amid a widening corruption scandal that has rocked the country’s judicial system.<\/p>\n
Duberli Rodriguez’s resignation follows the release last week of audiotapes suggesting sentences could be bought and judicial influence paid for.<\/p>\n
Orlando Velasquez, the president of the National Council of the Magistrature, has also resigned.<\/p>\n
The justice minister, Salvador Heresi, was forced to step down on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Mr Heresi was recorded arranging a meeting with a Supreme Court judge, Cesar Hinostroza Pariachi, who seemed to be offering to sell favours. Both men have denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
On another of the tapes, which were published by a Peruvian investigative website and TV programme, a judge discussed reducing the sentence or declaring innocent a man accused of raping a young girl.<\/p>\n
Mr Rodriguez had come under pressure from Supreme Court colleagues to step down and cede his chair to someone untouched by Peru’s corruption problem.<\/p>\n
He said in a statement: “Given the institutional crisis that the judicial branch is going through, I present my irrevocable resignation from the post.” He said the reasons for his resignation would be explained during an extraordinary session of the court on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Peru’s former president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski,\u00a0was forced to resign in March<\/a>\u00a0 after less than two years in office, after it emerged he had undisclosed financial ties to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.<\/p>\n Mr Kuczynski’s predecessor, Alberto Fujimori, resigned in 2000 in the wake of a corruption scandal. He was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in prison but was freed by Mr Kuczynski by presidential pardon in December 2017.<\/p>\n Mr Kuczynski said he was granting the pardon on humanitarian grounds, because Mr Fujimori was suffering from a degenerative disease, but the act sparked protests on the streets of Peru.<\/p>\n Peru’s current president, Mart\u00edn Vizcarra,\u00a0is expected to serve out Mr Kuczynski’s term until 2021<\/a>, and has pledged to investigate and tackle corruption in the nation’s politics.<\/p>\n Mr Vizcarra appointed a committee of six judges to deliver a judicial reform proposal and called an extraordinary session of parliament for Friday to discuss the scandal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source\u00a0bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"