May 12 (Reuters) – A Peruvian prosecutor accused leftist presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez of financial crimes, local media outlet RPP reported on Tuesday, hours after electoral authorities said Sanchez was still on track to advance to the country’s presidential runoff vote.
The prosecutor called for Sanchez to be imprisoned for five years and four months if convicted and requested he be disqualified as a candidate, RPP said.
Sanchez was “accused of the alleged crimes of making false statements in administrative proceedings and falsifying information regarding campaign contributions, based on financial reports submitted by his party in 2020 and 2021,” RPP reported.
The accusation was made after vote counting for the first round of Peru’s presidential election, held last month, showed the leftist candidate advancing to a runoff against conservative rival Keiko Fujimori, with 99.76% of ballots tallied. The final result of the vote count will be announced by May 15.
RPP quoted Sanchez’s lawyer rejecting the accusation and saying that the party’s treasurer, not Sanchez, was responsible for the party’s financial reports.
RPP said a judge would decide on May 27 whether Sanchez would go on trial.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Iñigo Alexander)
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