CONGRESS AVOIDS VOTE ON PROPOSED TOLEDO SANCTIONS,

UNCLAS LIMA 002282 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINS PREL PE SUBJECT: CONGRESS AVOIDS VOTE ON PROPOSED TOLEDO SANCTIONS, PASSES VILLANUEVA COMMITTEE DOCUMENTS TO PUBLIC MINISTRY REF: A. LIMA 2250 ¶B. LIMA 2249 ¶C. LIMA 2241 ¶D. LIMA 2054 ¶E. LIMA 1375 ¶1. SUMMARY: In a stormy plenary session that lasted nearly 16 hours, the Congress finally voted 56-47 to send the documents amassed by the committee investigating President Alejandro Toledo and his Peru Posible party for registration fraud (Villanueva Committee) to the Public Ministry for use in the latter's investigation. No/no vote was taken on the different sanctions proposed by the opposition party members of the Villanueva Committee. While the Villanueva Committee's report has been effectively archived, the Public Ministry and an Anti-Corruption Judge continue their criminal investigations and proceedings into registration fraud and obstruction of justice allegations. Meanwhile, opposition APRA party members are still stirring the pot, threatening to present a new resolution calling for sanctions against Toledo on the grounds that he obstructed the Villanueva Committee's investigation. END SUMMARY. ¶2. The plenary session began at 09:00 on 5/19 and did not end until 01:45 on 5/20. Debate centered on the substance of the Villanueva Committee's report, on whether it was adopted in accordance with regulations requiring an absolute majority-plus-one to constitute a quorum (Ref D),on the three sanctions recommended by opposition members of the Committee, and on the performance of Committee members during their investigation, with frequent digressions into personal insults and impassioned defenses of the honor of those so impugned. ¶3. In the end, following consultations with the leaders of the different legislative blocs, Congress President Antero Flores-Araoz called for a vote on whether Congress should forward the documents produced by the Villanueva Committee to the Public Ministry (Attorney General's office) as an official report or as "everything acted upon." The latter characterization won by a vote of 56-47. The sanctions against Toledo proposed by the opposition members of the Committee (vacating the Presidency, disqualifying Toledo from holding public office for ten years after his term ends, suspending the President for "temporary incapacity") were not/not voted upon. ¶4. Towards the conclusion of the session, opposition APRA legislators began circulating a resolution calling for Toledo's 40-day suspension on the grounds that he obstructed the work of the Villanueva Committee. According to press accounts, APRA was able to amass close to 40 signatures, which would enable them to place this resolution on the Congressional agenda. ¶5. Media coverage of the Congress' deliberations has been uniformly negative, portraying it as a political circus, highlighting the less savory exchanges between legislators, and pointing out the overall lack of quality reasoning in the debate. ¶6. COMMENT: Congress' decisions not to recognize the Villanueva Committee report as an official document and to pass it on to the Public Ministry for appropriate handling effectively archives the Committee's investigation. Nonetheless, this does not mean that the President can rest easy. The Public Ministry has been carrying out its own investigation, as has Anti-Corruption Judge Saul Pena. The latter reportedly is close to rendering a decision in the prosecution of Toledo's sister Margarita and others accused of complicity in the creation and submission of false signatures to register Toledo's Pais Posible (now Peru Posible) party in 2000, as well as of GOP and Peru Posible officials accused of obstructing justice by facilitating the temporary flight of a key witness (Ref E). Convictions in those cases could well lead to a revival of charges against the President. In this respect, APRA's proposed resolution to suspend Toledo for obstructing the Villanueva Committee's investigation, while likely to fail, should keep political tensions high for the immediate future. END COMMENT. STRUBLE