Peru ousts interim president over corruption probe

Congress voted to impeach interim President Jose Jeri over secret meetings with Chinese businessmen just months before national elections in April.

Peru's Congress voted on Tuesday to remove interim President Jose Jeri from office four months into his term.

The move follows a scandal involving secret meetings with Chinese businessmen.

It triggers a fresh wave of political instability less than two months before Peru's presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Jeri is also under investigation for alleged "illegal sponsorship of interests" following two meetings with Chinese businessmen. The meetings were not publicly disclosed.

Both meetings were with businessman Zhihua Yang, who owns shops and a state-granted concession for a hydroelectric project. 

A businessman present at the first meeting is accused of belonging to an illegal timber trafficking network.

The scandal broke when a video of the meetings was released. In one of them, from December 2025, Jeri is seen arriving at a restaurant late at night with a hood pulled over his head to meet with Yang. In a meeting in January, he arrived wearing sunglasses.

Jeri has denied wrongdoing and said he met the businessmen to organize a Peruvian-Chinese festivity.

But Congress cited the allegations as one of the reasons to remove him, arguing that he had become unfit to execute his presidential duties.

Peru sees frequent removals of presidents

Jeri became president in October 2025 after Congress voted unanimously to remove his predecessor, Dina Boluarte.

Jeri, a 39-year-old lawyer, is Peru's third consecutive president to be removed from office.

He was the country's seventh president in less than a decade and only two of those were elected by a popular vote.

Legislators will convene on Wednesday to elect a new interim president, who will be expected to lead the country during the election and until the nation's newly elected president is sworn in on July 28.

A clause in Peru's constitution enables legislators to remove presidents who are found to be "morally incapable" of conducting their duties.

The moral incapacity clause has been interpreted widely by legislators who have used it, along with corruption allegations, to remove presidents that no longer suit the interests of the nation's political parties.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru