Reuters
LIMA, Peru — President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a market-friendly leader and one of Washington’s allies in Latin America, resigned Wednesday after a secretly recorded video appeared to show his allies trying to buy off an opposition lawmaker to sway a coming impeachment vote.
Kuczynski, 79, said in a televised speech he was stepping down. The move comes just 19 months after he took office and in the wake of allegations of wrongdoing over his past business ties with Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. Kuczynski was expected to be impeached and thrown out of office on Thursday by lawmakers.
Kuczynski denied wrongdoing, saying his resignation was for the good of the country as the current political crisis has undermined his ability to govern. “This has created enormous damage for the country,” Kuczynski said. “For the good of the country, I’m resigning as the president of the republic.”
The scandal leading up to his resignation has rocked Peru, which for years has been one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies and a darling of Wall Street.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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