Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Saturday said she would not resign after her house was raided as part of inquiries into possible illicit enrichment and failure to declare ownership of luxury watches.

Some 20 officials from the public prosecutor’s office and 20 police raided Boluarte’s house on Friday night, and the palace on Saturday morning.

“I took office with clean hands and thus I will retire from the presidency in 2026,” she said at a press conference, calling the raids a “disproportionate” measure and “abusive.”

Boluarte’s house is located in the Lima district of Surquillo, a few kilometres from the palace where she works.

“Personnel from the palace provided all the facilities for the diligence requested,” the presidency said on social media platform X, adding that it was carried out “normally and without any incident.”

However, Peruvian Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen also criticized the raids. “The political noise that is being made is serious, affecting investments and the entire country,” he wrote on X. “What has happened in the last few hours is disproportionate and unconstitutional actions.”

Two weeks ago, prosecutors began preliminary inquiries following a media report by internet program La-Encerrona that the president possessed several Rolex watches.

The inquiry intended to establish whether there were grounds for a formal investigation of the president.

Boluarte, in office since December 2022, has acknowledged that she owns Rolex watches, which she said she had bought with money she earned since she was young.

The prosecutor’s office had tried unsuccessfully last Wednesday to conduct a check of the watches at Boluarte’s office, but her lawyers said there was a clash of diary appointments and sought to reschedule the appointment.

The inquiry into Boluarte is the latest in a long history of probes into Peruvian presidents and senior officials.

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Police and prosecutors stand outside President Dina Boluarte’s house during a raid aimed at seizing Rolex watches as part of a preliminary investigation into alleged illicit enrichment in Lima, Peru, on March 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Televised images swept Peru late on March 29 of government agents from an investigative team breaking into the President’s residence with a sledgehammer in a raid authorized by the judiciary at the request of the attorney general’s office.

Dina Boluarte is being preliminarily investigated for possessing an undisclosed collection of luxury watches since she came to power in July 2021 as Vice President and Social Inclusion Minister, and then as President in December 2022.

Initially, she claimed ownership of at least one Rolex as a long-held possession acquired through “personal gains” since the age of 18, urging the media not to delve into personal matters.

Earlier in the week, Attorney General Juan Villena criticized Ms. Boluarte’s request to delay her appearance before the court for two weeks, emphasizing her obligation to cooperate with the investigation.

Political turmoil is nothing new in Peru, which has seen six presidents in the last five years. But many see Ms. Boluarte’s recent statements as contradicting her earlier pledge to speak truthfully to prosecutors, exacerbating a political crisis stemming from her unexplained ownership of Rolex watches.

The Attorney General emphasized Boluarte’s obligation to promptly produce the three Rolex watches for investigation, cautioning against their disposal or destruction.

Ms. Boluarte, a 61-year-old lawyer, ascended from a modest district official to vice president under President Pedro Castillo in July 2021, subsequently assuming the presidency in December 2022 following Castillo’s impeachment after he attempted to dissolve congress and rule by decree.

At least 49 people were killed in the protests that followed.

Critics accuse Ms, Boluarte’s government of taking an increasingly authoritarian bent as it staves off demands for early elections and works with members of congress on laws that threaten to undermine the independence of Peru’s judicial system.