Peru's VP Chehade has "stepped aside"

LIMA: Peru's President Ollanta Humala said on Sunday that Vice President Omar Chehade had "stepped aside" over corruption allegations, but he refused to say if Chehade had resigned or taken a leave of absence.

Peru's attorney general and Congress are investigating whether Chehade, one of two vice presidents, asked a police general to help his brother evict workers from a cooperative sugar plantation to help a company that wants to take it over.

"For me this issue is over. He has stepped aside. We had said the best thing for him to do was step aside and that's what he's done," Humala said in an interview with Peru's El Comercio newspaper while attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Hawaii.

"He doesn't belong to the executive branch, so as a result we don't have any relationship with him at this time," said Humala, who narrowly won Peru's presidential election in June.

Asked if Chehade had tendered his resignation, Humala responded: "This case is closed. He was asked to step aside and he did, and today he isn't part of the executive branch."

Humala effectively cannot fire Chehade and his power to end the scandal has been limited by the constitution, which says only Congress can remove a vice president from office in an impeachment proceeding.

A leftist former military officer who campaigned on promises to fight corruption, Humala asked his vice president to quit during a televised nationwide television broadcast a week ago.

Chehade responded with a statement in which he proclaimed his innocence and refused to resign, saying instead that during the investigation he would abstain from exercising the job's only role: acting on behalf of Humala when he is outside Peru.

Critics said Chehade's gesture was meaningless because Peru's other vice president, Marisol Espinoza, is more senior and is always sworn in when Humala travels.

Humala's statements published on Sunday were the first time he had responded to Chehade's move.

"These comments are very disappointing," said opposition lawmaker Carlos Bruce, who added that Chehade's leave of absence was a "sham" and not tantamount to quitting.

Humala's approval rating before the scandal emerged in the leading Ipsos poll was 62 percent, making him the most popular Peruvian leader in decades. A new poll from Ipsos is due out in the coming days

Copyright Reuters, 2011