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Peru Arrests 6 Generals Amid Graft Probe of Ex-president Castillo


FILE - Police stand guard outside the prison where ousted Peruvian leader Pedro Castillo is being held, in Lima, Peru, Dec. 9, 2022.
FILE - Police stand guard outside the prison where ousted Peruvian leader Pedro Castillo is being held, in Lima, Peru, Dec. 9, 2022.

The anti-corruption unit of Peru's attorney general's office detained six generals Monday amid an investigation into allegations the government of ousted former President Pedro Castillo illegally promoted police and military officers.

Police also seized "documents and devices" during a raid of the home of Castillo's former Defense Minister Walter Ayala, the anti-corruption unit said.

Castillo, who was arrested earlier this month after lawmakers voted him out of office for attempting to illegally dissolve Congress, is being investigated for influence peddling. He faces six separate charges of corruption, all of which he has denied.

"Through these interventions, six of those investigated were arrested. The proceedings ... include 26 raids nationwide," the attorney general's office said on Twitter.

The leftist former president is serving 48 months of pretrial detention while he is being investigated on charges of "rebellion."

The attorney general's office said on Twitter the detained generals are being investigated for "allegedly having paid to rise in rank in 2021 with the authorization of former President Pedro Castillo."

Former Defense Minister Ayala criticized the search of his home and the arrest of the generals.

"This has been unnecessary, because they haven't found anything," Ayala told reporters. "This investigation is over a year old ... this is a show."

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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