Peruvian justice imposes 15 months of preventive imprisonment to a former Lambayeque police chief accused of corruption

The Peruvian Justice has issued this Thursday 15 months of preventive imprisonment against General Henry Garcia Esquivel, former chief of police in the province of Lambayeque, in the north of the country, for alleged corruption.

The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes of Corruption of Officials of Lambayeque has indicated that cautionary measures have also been established against officer Ray Rolf Velásquez, also accused of committing similar crimes in the exercise of his duties.

The provincial prosecutor Julio Taboada Ramón has argued that the restrictive measure allows guaranteeing that the accused attend the judicial process against them given the risk of flight and the alleged obstruction of the investigations by the investigated.

As he has pointed out, between June and July 2022, Garcia Esquivel — in his capacity as police chief of Lambayeque — would have requested, through Velasquez, the sum of “quotas” amounting to 1,000 soles (about 250 euros) to five owners of discotheques and nightclubs in Chiclayo with the purpose of not carrying out police operations in the surroundings of their establishments.

Velasquez would have thus participated in the request for the amounts by contacting the discotheque owners to inform them of the request for the money and, subsequently, collect it to ultimately deliver it to Garcia.