Prosecutors search Peruvian president's home in graft inquiry

Peru's President Dina Boluarte attends the Leaders Retreat at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 17, 2023. /Carlos Barria/File Photo

LIMA - Peruvian prosecutors raided the home of President Dina Boluarte late on Friday as part of inquiries into possible illicit enrichment and failure to declare ownership of luxury watches.

Police broke down the door of the residence, television images showed, apparently after calls by officials to open up went unanswered. Radio station RPP said Boluarte was not at her home, in the Lima district of Surquillo, at the time of the raid.

Officials at Boluarte's office were not immediately available to comment.

Two weeks ago prosecutors began preliminary inquiries to check a media report that the president possessed several Rolex watches. The inquiry intended to establish whether there were grounds for a formal investigation against the president.

Boluarte, in office since December 2022, has acknowledged that she owns Rolex watches, which she said she had bought with money she earned since she was young.

She said earlier this month in relation to the news report that she entered the president's office with her hands clean and would leave with her hands clean.

Police break open the door in a raid at Peru's President, Dina Boluarte's residence in Lima, Peru March 30, 2024

The prosecutor's office had tried unsuccessfully last Wednesday to conduct a check of the watches at Boluarte's office, but her lawyers said there was a clash of diary appointments and sought to reschedule the appointment.

The inquiry into Boluarte is the latest in a long line of probes into Peruvian presidents and senior officials.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Frances Kerry; Editing by Helen Popper)