The investigation comes after dissemination of a tape recording in which Salomón Lerner Ghitis, a former official in President Alejandro Toledo’s administration, ordered Moisés Wolfensen, owner of the daily newspaper La Razón, to change his paper’s anti-government editorial line or things could go against him in legal proceedings against him on charges of engaging in corruption during the regime of ousted President Alberto Fujimori.
Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said he was concerned that “this represents a setback for press freedom in Peru and ends up like the terrible practices of the previous regime against the independent press.”
Molina, editor of the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic news magazine Ahora, said that the IAPA would be keeping a close watch on the situation to see what was the outcome of the official investigation “in the hope that corrective steps are taken to prevent any return to practices that endanger freedom of expression and the public’s right to know.”
Regarding allegations of acts of corruption involving journalists and news media during the administration of Fujimori and his intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, Molina said that the IAPA hoped that the Peruvian judiciary would act in an autonomous, impartial and fair manner to ensure due process.
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