What is the Rolex watch scandal threatening Peru's president Dina Boluarte?

Ever since Peru’s first female president took office, she is regularly been seen wearing luxury Rolex watches. Now her collection has landed her at the centre of a corruption scandal, amid a difficult term involving allegations of corruption and her approval rating plummeting to nine per cent.

Last week, police raided her private residence and the presidential palace for luxury items and evidence about how she came to acquire them. She has admitted to owning at least one Rolex watch, and prosecutors discovered documents linking Boluarte to a Datejust 36, which starts at $15,000 (Rs 12.50 lakh) in Peru, during the raid. Boluarte failed to publicly explain the possession of the luxury items, despite earning a monthly presidential salary of only $3,320 (Rs 2.75 lakh).

Boluarte has denied any wrongdoing. However, on Monday, the investigation has widened to include a $56,000 (Rs 46.69 lakh) Cartier bracelet in her possession and 1.1 million soles ($298,070 or Rs 2.48 crore) in bank deposits of “unknown origin.”

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Here’s everything that we know so far.

What’s the Rolex scandal?

Dina Boluarte is under investigation for illicit enrichment for possessing luxury timepieces watches without proving how she got them. Dozens of police and prosecutors raided her home and office over Easter weekend looking for evidence in the case.

Dina Boluarte, who took power in 2022 after her predecessor was impeached for illegally trying to shutter congress, saw the beginning of her term marked by protests and ensuing crackdown that left dozens dead.

In March, a popular political Youtube show La Encerrona reviewed thousands of photos of Dina Boluarte and found she wore a number of Rolex watches worth between $14,000 (Rs 11.67 lakh) and $25,000 (Rs 20.83 lakh).

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On 18 March, the Peru’s prosecutor’s office announced “preliminary proceedings” against Dina Boluarte for alleged “illicit enrichment” and failure to declare ownership of the expensive Rolex watches in documents.

She is also facing calls to step down amid questions about the provenance of her collection of Rolex watches. Despite widespread calls for her resignation or to bring forward elections, Dina Boluarte survived but is now facing renewed calls to step down over the scandal.

In a televised address to the nation Dina Boluarte called the raid “abusive” and said she would serve her term until 2026. Congress has already taken initial steps to impeach Boluarte.

What happened during the raid?

Dozens of prosecutors and police arrived at Dina Boluarte’s house near midnight on Good Friday to carry out a search warrant

Prosecutors said they had requested the watches from Dina Boluarte but they had not been handed in and the raid produced “elements of interest” for the investigation.

Local media outlets published documents from the raid showing at least one Rolex watch, a Datejust 36 model with a purchase date of 8 July, 2023. A similar model on Rolex’s website costs at least $14,800 (Rs 10.33 lakh).

Eight lower-priced watches from other brands were found in the Government Palace, according to local media reports. Dina Boluarte’s salary as president is about $4,200 (Rs 3.50 lakh) with expenses and housing paid for by the state.

What happens next?

Dina Boluarte’s defence had asked the prosecutor to postpone the president’s testimony, but are now requesting she give a statement Friday 5 April due to the “political turbulence” the case is causing.

Mostly left-wing Opposition legislators, presented a motion in Congress on Monday to begin Dina Boluarte’s impeachment for “permanent moral incapacity”. Only 26 of 130 legislators are needed to start the process, 52 votes are needed to debate the impeachment in Congress and 87 are needed to impeach.

Dina Boluarte has already survived two attempts to start impeachment proceedings but both failed to receive 52 votes to proceed. Impeachment is unlikely since right-wing legislators have a majority in congress and support Dina Boluarte.

Six of Dina Boluarte’s ministers, including the interior minister, have resigned on Monday over the scandal.

Gustavo Adrianzen, who took over as prime minister in March, must be confirmed by Congress on Wednesday and if he fails the vote of confidence, Dina Boluarte’s entire Cabinet must resign.

What happened to Peru’s other presidents?

Peru’s politics are highly polarised and the constitution allows presidents to be impeached for “moral incapacity” a subjective measure that’s been used to impeach several former leaders.

Almost all high-ranking officials or former Peruvian presidents have been investigated by the prosecution or have been involved in corruption cases in the last three decades.

After being elected in 2016, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned prior to a likely conviction after being successfully impeached in 2018 following a corruption scandal. His vice president, Martin Vizcarra, then took over but was also impeached for “permanent moral incapacity” due to corruption charges in 2020.

After that Manuel Merino was president for just five days, resigning after two protest deaths in Lima. Francisco Sagasti then took power for a year until leftist’s outsider Pedro Castillo was elected in 2021.

Castillo was impeached in December for trying to shutter congress. Castillo is now jailed in the same prison as another former president Alejandro Toledo. They shared the prison with former President Alberto Fujimori who was released last December after a pardon.

With inputs from Reuters