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Below, we share the rectification request letter sent by our brother José Antonio Dávila, General Assistant for Temporal Affairs of the Sodalitium of Christian Life, to Mr. Gustavo Mohme Seminario, Director of La República newspaper, rejecting the false claims made in an article published on December 22nd, 2023, in the said newspaper.
You can access the letter in PDF format here.
This rectification request was not addressed by La República and, consequently, was not published in the newspaper.
____________________________________
Lima, January 30th, 2024
Mr.
Gustavo Mohme Seminario
Director of La República Newspaper
Jr. Camaná 320, Cercado de Lima
Lima – Peru
Dear Mr. Mohme,
I am writing to you, in my capacity as General Treasurer (Ecónomo General) of the Sodalitium of Christian Life, to express our disagreement with the information presented in the article published on December 22nd, 2023, in your newspaper, titled “Sodalitium Lawyer Infiltrates the Prosecutor’s Office to Attack Journalists,” authored by journalist Maria Elena Hidalgo.
The article in question contains statements that are contrary to the truth. In exercising our constitutional right to respond, we clarify the following:
The author begins the article with the following headline:
“Proven. Prosecutor Rafael Vela not only revealed that the Attorney General asked him to favor her friend, Sodalitium lawyer José Luis Hauyón, but also that he should not close the baseless money laundering case against reporter Paola Ugaz. Hauyón was behind the defamation campaigns.“
These claims are repeatedly reinforced throughout the article, both with statements from the journalists and from Prosecutor Vela.
1. Dr. José Luis Hauyón is not the lawyer for the Sodalitium and has never represented the institution. He is the lawyer for some members of the institution. It is regrettable that the article fails to distinguish between a legal entity and an individual.
2. The headline suggests that the friendship between attorney Hauyón and Attorney General Benavides benefitted the Sodalitium. Further reinforcing this idea, the article later claims: “Hauyón infiltrated the Prosecutor’s Office not only to close cases against his clients investigated for organized crime and money laundering, among other serious crimes.” This is not supported by facts, as explained below.
3. The article alleges that influence was used to ensure that the money laundering cases against Paola Ugaz were not dismissed, and even to “undertake legal actions and smear campaigns against journalists Ugaz, Salinas, and Yovera.” The article claims that complaints by Sodalitium members were baseless and solely intended to silence these journalists. These assertions also do not hold up under scrutiny.
4. Basic ethical principles of journalism require seeking the version of the accused party, which did not occur in this case or other articles published in your newspaper regarding the Sodalitium. Had our perspective been sought, we would have provided the following clarifications.
Since the article suggests that the Sodalitium has been favored by attorney Hauyón’s alleged influence and Attorney General Benavides’ support, we present the ongoing or newly initiated investigations against members or former members of the Sodalitium during Attorney General Benavides’ tenure (June 20th, 2022, to December 7th, 2023), over which she supposedly could have influenced decisions:
On May 10th, 2016, Pedro Salinas and four other former members of the Sodalitium filed a criminal complaint against Luis Fernando Figari and others for the crimes of kidnapping, serious injuries, and criminal association. This complaint has been under investigation for eight years, during which five dismissals have been issued by various provincial prosecutors overseeing the case (January 2017, October 2019, December 2022, April 2023, and June 2023). These dismissals have been partially annulled on appeal by the complainants.
The most recent annulment of this case’s dismissal occurred on August 28th, 2023, during Attorney General Patricia Benavides’ tenure. Notably, attorney José Luis Hauyón has represented Luis Fernando Figari since 2019. If the version presented by your newspaper regarding Hauyón’s influence were true, why hasn’t the case been definitively closed? The facts contradict the claims in the article, as despite the alleged influence of attorney Hauyón with Attorney General Benavides, the case has not been dismissed and was annulled for the fifth time.
On December 21st, 2022, after closing the investigation for kidnapping, injuries, and illicit association, the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime ordered copies of the financial information in its case file to be sent to the Money Laundering Prosecutor’s Office to initiate a preliminary investigation into money laundering involving individuals and entities related to the Sodalitium. However, since the decision to send this information was appealed, in February 2023, the Superior Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime annulled both the closure decision and the order to remit copies. Subsequently, in April 2023, the Money Laundering Prosecutor’s Office decided not to open an investigation based on the Superior Prosecutor’s Office’s decision.
The article states: “This close, intimate, secret relationship between Benavides and Hauyón explains why, earlier this year, the Attorney General directly called Senior Prosecutor Rafael Vela to receive her friend José Luis Hauyón.” The journalist attempts to portray the meeting as influence-peddling, but this is a grave and unsubstantiated claim. Meetings between lawyers and prosecutors are entirely legitimate within the Public Prosecutor’s Office procedures. Prosecutor Vela acknowledged that the meeting took place and that it concerned the closure of a case from the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office—the same case that has been shelved five times over more than eight years of investigation.
The article further claims: “According to Prosecutor Rafael Vela, José Luis Hauyón was also very interested in the investigation into the Sodalitium’s offshore companies linked to the Panama Papers case. It was evident that Hauyón, taking advantage of his direct relationship with Patricia Benavides, intended to close his clients’ cases.”
Firstly, there is no investigation related to the Panama Papers. There is, however, one linked to the Global Pandora Papers Project. Information from this project led the 1st Supraprovincial Corporate Prosecutor’s Office for Money Laundering to divide the cases related to various entrepreneurs and politicians, including Mario Vargas Llosa, former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, and others, into 12 investigations in April 2023. In one of these cases, a preliminary investigation into alleged money laundering was initiated against some sodalits and entities related to the Sodalitium. Once again, despite Patricia Benavides being the Attorney General at the time and José Luis Hauyón being the lawyer for one of the sodalites under investigation, the Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation—contradicting the article’s claims.
The article highlights claims that José Luis Hauyón, described as the “operator” of the Sodalitium, undertook legal actions and smear campaigns against journalists Ugaz, Salinas, and Yovera to silence them. However, these claims do not withstand scrutiny:
1. Defamation Cases: These journalists have been sued for defamation by various individuals through the Judiciary, where the Public Prosecutor’s Office has no jurisdiction. Consequently, no Attorney General or prosecutor could have influenced these cases.
2. Corruption Allegations: Both Ugaz and Salinas have been involved in state corruption cases, in which the Sodalitium or Hauyón have had no involvement.
Salinas was investigated for corruption in December 2018. The article includes a statement from Salinas claiming: “Hauyón is the missing piece of the puzzle. It was evident there was a connection between the media campaign against us and the speed with which the Public Prosecutor’s Office processed baseless claims.” However, this claim does not apply to his case, as the investigation began under Attorney General Zoraida Ávalos, not Patricia Benavides.
Ugaz was sued for defamation by the Archbishop of Piura in 2018. While the article cites Ugaz’s claim that her lawsuits began after she investigated Sodalitium finances, it omits that the Archbishop withdrew his lawsuit, which was handled by the Judiciary, not the Prosecutor’s Office. At the time, Attorney General Ávalos was in office.
The article states: “Similar to Paola Ugaz and Pedro Salinas, prosecutors under Patricia Benavides unleashed a persecution against Yovera.” Yovera himself adds: “It was always strange how the Hauyón law firm managed to keep our cases alive.” Both claims are baseless. Yovera has no complaints filed against him in the Prosecutor’s Office. He faces an aggravated defamation lawsuit filed in July 2019 by Alberto Gómez de la Torre, unrelated to the Sodalitium or Hauyón.
The article claims, without evidence, that the Sodalitium financed a “disinformation ecosystem” to discredit journalists. Such accusations are defamatory and unsubstantiated.
Furthermore, the article misrepresents statements by witness F.N.P., claiming he had alleged meetings about Sodalitium’s financial matters. However, in his testimony, F.N.P. stated he had no knowledge of financial management or the meetings’ content.
The accusations in the article are false and unfounded, primarily based on claims from journalists linked to La República and attorney Raiza Arroyo, who has acted as a journalist for the paper. This approach, typical of an opinion piece, is unacceptable for investigative journalism, which requires contrasting sources and substantiating accusations.
Given the arguments outlined above, and exercising our right to rectification, we respectfully request that this letter be published with the same prominence as the original article.
Sincerely,
José Antonio Dávila
General Assistant for Temporal Affairs
Sodalitium Christianae Vitae