The mayor of Chorrillos, Richard Cortez, specified that he only has one current complaint with the Public Ministry for the alleged crime of influence peddling due to the video in which he received money from a supplier of the Municipality of Chorrillos, when he was still deputy mayor, in March 2025.
In dialogue with The Commercethe municipal authority explained that said case is in the preparatory investigation phase, but that the complaint against him has not yet been formalized after a year and a half after the investigation began. He said he hopes it will be filed considering that there is “no proof” of the accusation.
“The only case that is pending and that is in the preparatory phase is only that of the video, but there has been no progress in a year and a half and it is stuck there,” he stated.
“The complainant has to present the complete video, however, to date he has not done so because other people and other characters appear in the video who would not be appropriate to appear,” he added.
Cortez explained that the complaints made against him were even before he became mayor and even when he was a candidate for councilor. He assured that some accusations are against the Municipality of Chorrillos itself for previous efforts and for administrative issues, but that they reach him because he is the “political and administrative person responsible” and they are not direct accusations against him.
“The processes are typical of a management, which reach you because you are the mayor. There are even processes that are not from this year, but I have had to assume them because I am the administrative and political head of the district,” he said.
Cortez explained that almost all the complaints have been filed or did not initiate a preliminary investigation, so he considered that the Prosecutor’s Office should have an adequate filter regarding the accusations made against the authorities, since the cases are raised anonymously.
Release
The legal defense of the mayor of Chorrillos, Richard Cortez, informed this newspaper that, in the case of the video, “the corresponding fiscal deadline expires in October and, until then, it will be up to the Public Ministry to determine, based on the elements gathered, whether to file an accusation or request the file of the case.”
In addition, he indicated that an expert report was presented that maintains that the audios and videos examined “are not authentic or complete” and that they had been manipulated.
“The report also questions compliance with the chain of custody of the material contained in a USB presented to the Municipality of Chorrillos on March 26, 2025 and subsequently incorporated into the tax file. These conclusions correspond to expertise provided by the defense and must be assessed by the competent authorities,” a statement states.
Regarding the complaints related to payment to suppliers, waste management, alleged forgery of signature, abuse of authority, criminal organization and decisions adopted during the exercise of the position of councilor, the legal defense specifies that in the case of Cortez “there is no direct or indirect participation of his sponsor in the alleged acts.”
