Peru congress suspends Fujimori but leaves him alive politically

LIMA: Peru’s congress suspended lawmaker Kenji Fujimori late Wednesday over corruption allegations but lacked a quorum to dismiss him as part of a fight with his sister for control of their father’s political dynasty.

After 11 hours of debate in a special plenary session, 61 lawmakers voted to suspend the youngest son of former president Alberto Fujimori.

But many lawmakers then walked out and the speaker of the chamber, Luis Galarreta, suspended the session citing a lack of quorum – 67 lawmakers – before it could vote on a motion to dismiss Fujimori altogether as sought by the party of his sister and rival, Keiko Fujimori.

“I say this to my sister: ‘here, you have my head,’” Kenji Fujimori said after the vote. “We are victims of a parliamentary dictatorship.”

Fujimori, 38, is accused of attempting to buy votes to keep disgraced former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski from being impeached. Kuczynski ended up resigning, in March.

With Fujimori now out of congress and under investigation, the vote Wednesday night shapes up as a win, albeit a costly one, for his sister in their battle for control of their father Alberto’s political legacy.

But the younger Fujimori is not disqualified from politics altogether and he and his sister could even square off against each other in presidential voting in 2021. — AFP