Key witness in ex-Peru Mayor Susana Villarán’s corruption case found dead

A key witness in the case of corruption of a former mayor of the capital of Peru, Lima, was found dead at his home, according to Peruvian prosecutors, less than three months before the start of the trial.

José Miguel Castro, who lived under house arrest, was an official of the municipality during the mandate of Susana Villarán as mayor from 2011 to 2014.

He was co-accused of the trial with Ms. Villarán, accused of having received bribes worth 10 million dollars (7.3 million pounds sterling) from Brazilian construction companies.

In 2019, Ms. Villarán admitted to having received funds from these companies but denied having been bribes. Mr. Castro collaborated with the survey prosecutors. The cause of his death is not yet known.

“He was the second most important person behind Ms. Villarán,” prosecutor José Domingo Pérez told the Peruvian press channel N. told prosecutor.

“We expected his precious contribution” at the trial, he added.

Ms. Villarán, 75, is accused of collusion, money laundering and training of a criminal organization which has received millions of dollars from Odebrecht construction companies – now called Nomonor – and Oea.

Prosecutors said Castro was the second commander of the alleged criminal organization.

In 2019, Ms. Villarán admitted to having taken Odebrecht and Oea funds to finance her 2013 mayor campaign to stay in office, but denied having formed bribes.

The trial is expected to start on September 23.

Ms. Villarán is one of the many Peruvian politicians involved in the Odebrecht scandal.

In 2016, the Brazilian construction giant admitted to having united officials in Latin America and in certain parts of Africa in order to obtain construction contracts.

A certain number of former Peruvian presidents have since been the subject of an investigation, including Ollanta Humala, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this year, and Alejandro Toledo, who was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison last year.

Another former chief, Alan Garcia, committed suicide when the authorities arrived at his home to arrest him in 2019.

One investigation against another former president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, is underway. He denies the accusations.