Lawmakers in Peru initiated impeachment proceedings Friday against President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who is accused of failing to disclose decade-old payments from a Brazilian company embroiled in Latin America's biggest corruption scandal. The president also said all of the payments were made to his business partner at the consulting firm, Westfield Capital. Peru's two biggest parties, which have enough seats in Congress to remove Kuczynski, had threatened the impeachment proceedings unless the president stepped down. The graft included some $29 million paid in Peru during the 2001-06 administration of President Alejandro Toledo and two of his successors. "The undesirable scenario of a presidential vacancy is dangerously close," said the newspaper, which supported Kuczynski in the 2016 election.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 15, 2017 22:52 UTC