
(CNN Spanish) — At the request of the Public Prosecutor, Peruvian justice has ordered the 10-day custody of the entrepreneur Sada Goray and the journalist Mauricio Fernandini in relation to the investigations into an alleged criminal organization which, according to the hypothesis of the Prosecutor’s Office, led by the former president Pedro Castillo.
Castillo, who was held unconstitutionally for trying to dissolve Congress, has repeatedly denied committing corruption or leading a criminal network and believes the prosecutor is being used politically.
The prosecutor alleges that the businesswoman Goray would have coordinated with officials of the Ministry of Construction the appointment of key positions to favor the companies of her group in exchange for bribes.
CNN had access to the court order ordering the preliminary arrests of Goray and Fernandini. The document states that Fernandini intervened in establishing contacts between the businesswoman and the officials to coordinate a series of actions that would have favored the businesswoman in exchange for payment in cash, and that he would then be responsible for delivering the money.
In that same judicial decision, in October 2022, Goray handed over the equivalent of US$137,800 to Salatiel Marrufo, a former chief adviser to the Ministry of Housing, who is now an aide to the justice system and pleaded before the commission Congressional Audit and Comptrollership for receiving more than $1.3 million from businesswoman.
CNN has sought defense comments from both Goray and Fernandini from the day of their arrests through the closure of this report, and has thus far received no response.