Peru’s Congress voted on Tuesday to remove President Jose Jeri from office following a series of undisclosed late-night meetings at a Chinese restaurant with a Chinese state contractor, setting off a political scandal dubbed “Chifagate”, a reference to the country’s Chinese-Peruvian fusion cuisine.

According to SCMP, lawmakers voted 75-24, with three abstentions, to censure Jeri over the unregistered encounters with businessman Zhihua Yang, whose companies have supplied the state and who owns the restaurant and a wholesale outlet in Lima.

The vote took place during an extraordinary session in which seven censure motions, filed between January 21 and January 27, were admitted and debated together. An attempt by Jeri’s party, Somos Peru, to argue that only a presidential vacancy procedure could remove him was defeated 71-34.

Jeri did not attend the debate, maintaining that the censure process denied him the right to mount a defense.

In a televised interview last month, he ruled out resigning voluntarily and described the release of videos as part of a political operation aimed at destabilizing the government ahead of elections; of course that's what every politicians embroiled in a career-ending scandal would say. 

The “Chifagate” scandal started in late December, when TV shows broadcast footage of the president entering a Chinese restaurant in Lima’s San Borja district shortly before midnight, his head covered, alongside the interior minister Vicente Tiburcio.

Days later, he was filmed inside Yang’s wholesale shop, which municipal authorities had temporarily closed earlier that day for regulatory breaches. Neither visit was recorded on the president’s official agenda as required under transparency rules.

Local media also reported that Yang had expressed interest in a proposed contract to install thousands of surveillance cameras on public buses, a project estimated to cost about US$30 million.

Government officials acknowledged discussions with Chinese business representatives but denied any pressure or irregular conduct.

Separate reports said another Chinese businessman, Ji Wu Xiaodong, who faces house arrest over alleged links to illegal logging, had entered the presidential palace several times between December and January. Jeri said he was unaware of Ji Wu’s legal situation and rejected suggestions of wrongdoing.

Throughout the investigation, the now-ousted president refused to resign and rejected the allegations, saying he had granted no favors or contracts. He described the case as “a political operation” aimed at destabilizing his government.

The Attorney General’s office opened a preliminary investigation into possible influence peddling and illegal sponsorship of interests. Under Peruvian law, a sitting president enjoys immunity from prosecution, meaning any criminal case would proceed only after leaving office.

Banana Republic

Jeri took office in October through constitutional succession after the removal of Dina Boluarte and had been in the post for 130 days. Boluarte had replaced the last democratically elected president, Pedro Castillo, in December 2022 after he too was impeached.

Jeri was the seventh president in a decade to lead Peru. Many of his predecessors have been mired in scandal, forcing them to step down or face impeachment.

His removal adds to a decade of political turbulence in which presidents have resigned, been impeached or removed in rapid succession.

Outside Congress on Tuesday, a small group of protesters gathered behind metal barriers demanding Jeri’s resignation. Some held placards and chanted “Que se vaya Jeri” (“Jeri must go”) as police maintained a visible presence. 

Before Tuesday’s final vote, opinion polls already indicated that the president’s popularity had been damaged by the scandal. A survey by Datum Internacional and local newspaper El Comercio published on Monday showed his approval rate at 37 per cent, a drop of 21 points since he took office.

Nearly seven in ten respondents said they believed he was implicated in corruption after photographs and videos surfaced showing his meetings with the Chinese businessmen seeking state contracts.

Congressional leaders said a new head of Congress would be elected on Wednesday evening and would then assume the presidency under constitutional succession rules. The interim president will serve until April, when Peru is scheduled to hold general elections to choose a new leader, two vice presidents and a new Congress.