Luciana León: what are the cases in which the former congressman is being investigated?

On March 11, the Prosecutor of the Nation, Zoraida Ávalos, filed a constitutional complaint with the Congress of the Republic against former aprista congressman Luciana León for several offenses that he would have committed while in office. The crimes are associated with his involvement with the criminal organization Los Untouchables Ediles, but his illicit actions would be more.

León Romero is being charged by the Public Prosecutor's Office for the alleged commission “as the perpetrator” of the crimes of aggravated traffic in influence, criminal organization, inappropriate passive bribery and willful embezzlement by the Peruvian State. The fiscal thesis states that the former legislator has “carried out actions aimed at favoring the alleged criminal organization Los untouchables councilors of La Victoria, led by former mayor Elias Cuba.”

On June 3, 2021, he filed with the Public Prosecutor's Office and rejected all charges against him. She said she had never been investigated for similar events.

Find out here the cases in which she has been involved or has been investigated:

The accusation against León Romero is in the case of an alleged fictitious hiring of workers. The prosecution maintains that the policy “would have hired trusted staff to work in its office, yet it did not perform effective work.”

The people hired were Celso Albert Omar Carranza Mosquiera, Maria Angela Ayala Diaz, Edward Esteban Paz Arista, Roberto Cabrera del Castillo, Jessica Teresa Mayer Vasquez and Ydo Johnny Vasquez Peña.

“The money corresponding to his assets would be given to León in envelopes. This action would have been carried out from 2017 to 30/09/2019, when they were dismissed at the close of the Congress of the Republic,” says the Public Prosecutor's Office document.

- The crime in question is embezzlement: “The embezzlement is the theft of the State and punishes the official who appropriates or keeps public property that has been given to him to do certain things related to the office. The penalty is 4 to 8 years. In the case of Luciana León, there is an aggravation (belonging to a criminal organization) and the penalty could range from 8 to 15 years in prison,” criminal lawyer Romy Chang explained to El Comercio.

The document of the constitutional complaint also points to the alleged role of León Romero in Los Untouchables Ediles. It is mentioned that, according to investigations carried out by the Second Provincial Corporate Prosecutor's Office Specialized in Crimes of Corruption of Officials of Lima - in charge of investigating the case, the former congressman would be the “political legal arm” of the alleged criminal organization. The former parliamentarian would have been responsible for “expanding the network of contacts and links of the management line for clear economic purposes”.

The prosecutor also points to Betsy Matos, León's former advisor to Congress, “as one of the people who would integrate such an area” into the criminal network. The Public Ministry maintains that, in order to achieve its tasks, the organization led by the former mayor of La Victoria, Elias Cuba, and Alex Peña Quispe had “an area of police protection”. The members have already been identified and are under tax investigation.

The crime in this specific case would be that of unlawful association to commit crimes and punishes any person belonging to any organization that systematically engages in committing crimes.

“It is not necessary that, in fact, the crime has been committed. It could be that the association is being formed and has not perpetrated any theft or corruption, but the fact of creating a kind of criminal enterprise dedicated in a systematic way, dividing functions, that fact alone is already a crime. The penalty ranges from 8 to 15 years in prison. And if you are the leader or the one who finances this organization or, in any way, leader, the penalty can reach up to 20 years in prison. The penalty is effective,” explains lawyer Chang.

The fiscal thesis states that León Romero would have managed financing with officials from the Ministries of Economy and Housing of works in 2017 and 2018 in favor of the Municipality of La Victoria. These were granted to consortia linked to Alexander Peña Quispe, leader and financier of Los Untouchables Ediles, to execute them.

In addition, the former congressman would have “managed”, through Matos, “the implementation of a brick factory on the land owned by Juan Peña Quispe (brother of Alex Peña)”. This would have been done to contact officials of the Provincial Municipality of Trujillo “to make the organization's objectives feasible and facilitate”.

The event dates back to 2017, the year in which telephone coordination between Matos and Peña took place. This fact is also charged with the crime of unlawful association “for having managed through Betsy Matos a meeting in June 2017 between Alex Peña with officials of the Army Headquarters, “which is presumed to be coordinated illegal businesses dealing with issues related to casinos, goods, etc.”

- Crime of unlawful association to commit crime: the crime punishes people “who have influence or claim to have influence and sell them to people in exchange for reaching certain public officials who are aware of a legal or administrative process, for example, a tender,” explained Chang. In addition, simple penalties for this offense range from 4 to 6 years' imprisonment plus disqualification from holding public office. In the case of Luciana León, because she was a civil servant at the time she committed the crime, the penalty would be increased from 4 to 8 years in prison (effective).

On the other hand, the Public Prosecutor's Office also stated that the former legislator had received “sums of money in exchange for her illicit actions that would have taken place between March 2017 and May 2018.” These would have occurred with prior coordination between her, Matos and Peña. The prosecution maintains that third-party accounts in the family environment were used for banking transactions.

- Crime of improper passive bribery: “In simple terms it is corruption and punishes the public official, who accepts or receives any kind of benefit to perform an act that is proper to his office, for which he would not have to collect. The penalty is 4 to 6 years in prison,” explains the lawyer.