Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Duberli Rodriguez's resignation is the latest in a scandal which has rocked Peru

The president of Peru's Supreme Court has resigned amid a widening corruption scandal that has rocked the country's judicial system.

Duberli Rodriguez's resignation follows the release last week of audiotapes suggesting sentences could be bought and judicial influence paid for.

Orlando Velasquez, the president of the National Council of the Magistrature, has also resigned.

The justice minister, Salvador Heresi, was forced to step down on Saturday.

Mr Heresi was recorded arranging a meeting with a Supreme Court judge, Cesar Hinostroza Pariachi, who seemed to be offering to sell favours. Both men have denied any wrongdoing.

On another of the tapes, which were published by a Peruvian investigative website and TV programme, a judge discussed reducing the sentence or declaring innocent a man accused of raping a young girl.

Mr Rodriguez had come under pressure from Supreme Court colleagues to step down and cede his chair to someone untouched by Peru's corruption problem.

He said in a statement: "Given the institutional crisis that the judicial branch is going through, I present my irrevocable resignation from the post." He said the reasons for his resignation would be explained during an extraordinary session of the court on Thursday.

Peru's former president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, was forced to resign in March after less than two years in office, after it emerged he had undisclosed financial ties to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

Mr Kuczynski's predecessor, Alberto Fujimori, resigned in 2000 in the wake of a corruption scandal. He was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in prison but was freed by Mr Kuczynski by presidential pardon in December 2017.

Mr Kuczynski said he was granting the pardon on humanitarian grounds, because Mr Fujimori was suffering from a degenerative disease, but the act sparked protests on the streets of Peru.

Peru's current president, Martín Vizcarra, is expected to serve out Mr Kuczynski's term until 2021, and has pledged to investigate and tackle corruption in the nation's politics.

Mr Vizcarra appointed a committee of six judges to deliver a judicial reform proposal and called an extraordinary session of parliament for Friday to discuss the scandal.</s>Peru's Supreme Court president Duberli Rodriguez offered his resignation on Thursday after the publication of a series of audio recordings sparked a growing scandal over the sale of sentences and influence peddling.

"Given the institutional crisis that the judicial branch is going through, I present my irrevocable resignation from the post," said Rodriguez in a short letter published on the Supreme Court's Twitter account.

Rodriguez said the reasons for his resignation would be explained during a Supreme Court extraordinary session on Thursday afternoon.

He had been under pressure from Supreme Court colleagues demanding he resign so someone else -- completely untouched by the scandal -- could be tasked with reorganizing the judicial system.

Peru's judicial branch had announced a 90-day emergency on Wednesday, signed by Rodriguez and published in the El Peruano newspaper.

"In response to the judicial problems it is imperative that urgent and immediate measures are adopted to restore the normal, efficient and transparent development of jurisdictional activities," the judicial authority's resolution stated.

The National Council of the Magistracy's (CNM) president Orlando Velasquez also resigned on Thursday after just three days in the job, saying he did so for "dignity."

The CNM is the body that nominates judges and prosecutors.

The news comes less than a week after Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra dismissed Justice Minister Salvador Heresi over the embarrassing revelations.

"For the health of the justice system reform, I've asked minister Heresi to resign," Vizcarra had said on Twitter. "The period Peru is going through requires firm action."

Vizcarra appointed a committee of six jurists headed by ex-chancellor Allan Wagner to deliver a judicial reform proposal.

He has called an extraordinary session in parliament for Friday to discuss the possibility of a blanket resignation of CNM magistrates.

The diffusion of inflammatory audio recordings began 10 days ago on investigative journalism website IDL-Reporteros and the Panorama program on television station Canal 5, after which the public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into suspected influence peddling.

A number of judges and judicial officials implicated in the scandal have been suspended.

Heresi was sacked after a conversation between him and Supreme Court judge Cesar Hinostroza, another implicated in the affair, was played on television.

In the recording, Heresi asks Hinostroza to come to his office to talk to him about a legal initiative.</s>LIMA, Peru >> The head of Peru’s judicial branch resigned today in the wake of a mounting corruption scandal involving secret phone recordings capturing numerous judges making behind-the-scenes deals on everything from promotions to criminal sentences.

LIMA, Peru >> The head of Peru’s judicial branch resigned today in the wake of a mounting corruption scandal involving secret phone recordings capturing numerous judges making behind-the-scenes deals on everything from promotions to criminal sentences.

The latest scandal to embroil this South American nation has ensnared some of the country’s highest-ranking judges and political officials and comes just four months after then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski stepped down in a separate corruption probe.

In a short letter shared on Twitter, judicial chief Duberli Rodriguez announced he was tendering his resignation “due to the institutional crisis.”

The judicial misconduct became public two weeks ago when the Peruvian investigative news website IDL-Reporteros and the “Panorama” new analysis television show published a series of telephone recordings involving an extensive network of judges, businessmen and local authorities describing back-room deals.

In one recording, judge Cesar Hinostroza was caught talking with an unidentified person about the suspect in the rape of an 11-year-old girl.

After asking the child’s age and whether she had been “deflowered,” Hinostroza promises to investigate. Then he asks: “What do you all want? For the sentence to be reduced or be declared innocent?”

It remains unclear whether the suspect was actually let off, but in the past Hinostroza has acquitted three other suspects accused of raping minors. Hinostroza managed to ascend to the country’s Supreme Court despite accusations of previous misconduct, including having allegedly plagiarized his thesis and a book that bears his name. He has now been suspended.

Other recordings describe members of powerful judicial commissions helping judges and prosecutors get promotions over more well-qualified candidates, apparently maneuvering with tactics like asking candidates irrelevant questions during interviews. In one video, candidates for a chief prosecutor position were asked how to prepare duck ceviche, a traditional Peruvian dish.

The records have struck a nerve in Peru, a country where three out of the last four presidents are embroiled in Latin America’s biggest graft scandal.

Kuczynski resigned in March after opposition lawmakers revealed that when he was a Cabinet minister his private consulting firm had accepted payments from Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction company accused of paying millions in bribes. He denied any wrongdoing, saying he had removed himself from the company when the payments were made.

The latest scandal has provoked scattered protests around Peru and frustrated citizens called for a march in the capital today. Polls say 80 percent of Peruvians disapprove of their country’s justice system. Aside from the judicial branch chief, the minister of justice and the head of an important commission for judges have also resigned.

At a public event today, President Martin Vizcarra remarked that the country has institutions that “don’t deserve the public’s trust,” and that perhaps an even greater problem is there still appears to be a considerable amount of indifference to combat it.</s>The head of Peru's judicial branch resigned Thursday in the wake of a mounting corruption scandal involving secret phone recordings capturing numerous judges making behind-the-scenes deals on everything from promotions to criminal sentences.

The latest scandal to embroil this South American nation has ensnared some of the country's highest-ranking judges and political officials and comes just four months after then president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski stepped down in a separate corruption probe.

In a short letter shared on Twitter, judicial chief Duberli Rodriguez announced he was tendering his resignation "due to the institutional crisis".

The accounts of judicial misconduct became public two weeks ago when the Peruvian investigative news website IDL-Reporteros and the "Panorama" new analysis television show published a series of telephone recordings involving an extensive network of judges, businessmen and local authorities describing backroom deals.

In one recording, judge Cesar Hinostroza is caught talking with an unidentified person about the suspect in the rape of an 11-year-old girl.

After asking the child's age and whether she had been "deflowered", Hinostroza promises to pull up the case file and investigate. Then he asks: "What do you all want? For the sentence to be reduced or be declared innocent?"

It remains unclear whether the suspect was actually let off, but in the past Hinostroza has acquitted three other suspects accused of raping minors. Hinostroza managed to ascend to the country's Supreme Court despite accusations of previous misconduct, including having allegedly plagiarised his thesis and a book that bears his name. He has now been suspended.

Other recordings describe members of powerful judicial commissions helping judges and prosecutors get promotions over more well-qualified candidates, apparently maneuvering with tactics like asking candidates irrelevant questions during interviews.

In one video, candidates for a chief prosecutor position were asked how to prepare duck ceviche, a traditional Peruvian dish. "You need to make sure the duck was raised on a farm and well fed," one of the candidates responds, smiling in apparent amusement.

The corruption scandal emerged when wiretaps were published between June 7 and 11, revealing a wide network of bribery and influence peddling amongst senior members of the judiciary.

This hit a nerve in Peru, a country where three out of the last four presidents are embroiled in Latin America's biggest graft scandal.

Kuczynski resigned in March after opposition lawmakers revealed that when he was a Cabinet minister his private consulting firm had accepted payments from Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction company accused of paying millions in bribes. He denied any wrongdoing, saying he had removed himself from the company when the payments were made.

The latest scandal has provoked scattered protests around Peru. Polls say 80 percent of Peruvians disapprove of their country's justice system. Aside from the judicial branch chief, the minister of justice and the head of an important commission for judges have also resigned.

Over 5,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Peru's capital Thursday night waving flags and chanting, "Judicial power, national shame!"

"We're out on the streets because we want all of the corrupt to leave," politician Roberto Sanchez said.

In the historical city of Cuzco, protesters constructed a giant cardboard rat and hung it from a flagpole outside a courthouse. Police later fired tear gas at protesters when they tried to set the rat on fire.

"People want things to change," Leonardo Chile, the head of a university professors union, told one of Cuzco's local news agencies.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra has convened a special session of Congress, which will decide on Friday whether or not to accept the resignations.

At a public event on Thursday, President Martin Vizcarra lamented that the country has institutions that "don't deserve the public's trust".

"The protests taking place today in all of Peru have my support, because together we will combat corruption," he said.</s>Peruvians marched in the streets across the Andean country on Thursday, many carrying effigies of rats or vultures, to demand anti-corruption reforms to clean up the country’s institutions as the head of the judiciary resigned.

Thousands took to the historic district of the capital Lima carrying signs that read “Kick them all out!” and chanting “Stop Corruption! National Shame!”

“It’s not just about dismissing the magistrates. We need a change, a reform of the entire judicial and political system,” said Jorge Rodriguez, a 31-year-old university student.

Peruvians took part in protests in cities including Cusco, Arequipa, Tacna, Iquitos on Thursday, media reported.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra fired his justice minister, Salvador Heresi, on Friday after a TV station released an audio of a phone conversation between the minister and a judge under investigation for influence peddling.

The audio was part of several wiretapped phone conversations of judges and their associates that were recorded by police as part of a criminal probe before being leaked to Peruvian media, the judge who authorized the wiretapping has said.

In the recordings, judges appear to be discussing plans to trade favors, help convicted criminals and secure jobs for friends.

One judge has been arrested and another has been barred from leaving Peru. All deny wrongdoing.

Duberli Rodriguez, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, quit his posts as the head of the Supreme Court and the president of the judiciary “because of the institutional crisis that the judiciary is going through,” according to his resignation letter that the judiciary posted on Twitter.

Rodriguez did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

A corruption scandal dogged the previous administration of former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who stepped down four months ago in a graft scandal involving Brazilian builder Odebrecht.

The judiciary crisis is an early political test for Vizcarra, who as Kuczynski’s former vice president vowed to fight corruption “at any cost” when he took office in March.

Vizcarra has promised to start a major reform of Peru’s justice system later this month and summoned Congress to an emergency legislative session on Friday in order to oust all members of the National Council of Magistrates, a 7-member panel that selects and oversees judges and prosecutors.

“The protests today in Peru have my full support,” Vizcarra said at a public event on Thursday. “We see a lot of outrage but also a message of hope because a society that becomes outraged is a society that can change.”

The crisis has battered trust in Peru’s institutions that had already been shaken by nearly two years of political intrigue surrounding Odebrecht, which admitted in late 2017 to having paid $29 million in bribes to secure lucrative construction contracts in Peru.

All four of Peru’s most recent presidents and the main opposition party are under investigation over Odebrecht. All deny wrongdoing.</s>LIMA: Peru’s Supreme Court president Duberli Rodriguez offered his resignation on Thursday after the publication of a series of audio recordings sparked a growing scandal over the sale of sentences and influence peddling.

"Given the institutional crisis that the judicial branch is going through, I present my irrevocable resignation from the post," said Rodriguez in a short letter published on the Supreme Court’s Twitter account.

Rodriguez said the reasons for his resignation would be explained during a Supreme Court extraordinary session on Thursday afternoon. He had been under pressure from Supreme Court colleagues demanding he resign so someone else -- completely untouched by the scandal -- could be tasked with reorganizing the judicial system.

Peru’s judicial branch had announced a 90-day emergency on Wednesday, signed by Rodriguez and published in the El Peruano newspaper. "In response to the judicial problems it is imperative that urgent and immediate measures are adopted to restore the normal, efficient and transparent development of jurisdictional activities," the judicial authority’s resolution stated.</s>The President of Peru Martin Vizcarra Cornejo has officially opened Enel Green Power's 132MW Wayra 1 wind farm in the Ica region of the South American country.

Wayra 1 comprises 42 3MW turbines and will generate 600 gigwatt-hours of electricity a year.

Enel Peru country manager Jose Revuelta Mediavilla said: “Wayra 1 is the key to diversify Peru’s energy mix, while stabilising its power grid and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Non-conventional renewable power plants are essential for a country in great need of efficient and sustainable energy.”

Enel Green Power said it now has over 1.1GW of clean power projects installed in Peru.
The head of Peru's Supreme Court resigns amid allegations of accepting bribes.