Six of the eighteen Peruvian ministers announced their resignation on Monday. The announcements come amid an investigation into President Dina Boluarte, who is suspected of failing to declare luxury watches.
Interior Minister Victor Torres was the first to announce he was leaving due to “family problems”. A few hours later, the ministers of Education, Women’s Affairs, Argarian Development and Production and Foreign Trade also announced their departure.
The police, who together with the public prosecutor’s office carried out a search of Boluarte’s home and her office on Saturday in the context of ‘Rolexgate’, were in theory controlled by Torres.
According to various media, part of the government has asked the minister to remove from office the colonel who led the unannounced searches. Torres said he had “clean hands” and stated that Boluarte has nothing to hide.
The opposition demands the resignation of the president, but does not have a majority in Congress.
The Rolex scandal broke on March 15, when a local news site published a series of photos showing Boluarte wearing several luxury watches while she was still a minister in 2021 and 2022, which she allegedly did not declare.
After that report, Boluarte rejected the accusations and assured that she has “clean hands”. She said she only has one watch, which is quite old, and that she bought it with her own funds.
After Saturday’s house searches, part of an investigation into unlawful enrichment, the prosecutor’s office ordered Boluarte to hand over the watches she owns. According to the president’s lawyers, the police found some watches in the presidential palace, but none of the Rolex brand.
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