Peru’s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has resigned over a vote-buying scandal.

He has denied wrongdoing but said that he did not want to be an obstacle to the country’s development. Party leaders in Congress later agreed to accept President Kuczynski’s resignation.

After months of allegations of corruption against Kuczynski, what forced him to tender his resignation were highly damaging secretly filmed videos and audios.  They apparently show his allies trying to persuade members of Congress to back Mr Kuczynski in the impeachment vote which had been scheduled for yesterday.

In exchange, the members of Congress were offered lucrative public works projects for their constituencies. The release of the recordings, just two days before the impeachment vote, piled on pressure on the already beleaguered president.

Related News

Lawmakers from his own party withdrew their support and Kuczynski resigned on Wednesday. President Kuczynski defended himself in a televised message, saying the video footage had been edited to incriminate him.

“The opposition has tried to paint me as a corrupt person and they have managed to influence a group of reasonable and honest workers around me, getting them unfairly involved in this plot to destroy the government,” he said.

“I categorically reject these unsubstantiated claims and reaffirm my commitment to an honest, moral and fair Peru for everyone.” “I’ve worked for nearly 60 years of my life with complete honesty,” the 79-year-old leader said. “Faced with this difficult situation… I think it is best for the country if I resign from the presidency of the republic.

“I don’t want the country or my family to continue to suffer the uncertainty of recent times.”  Kuczynski has already been through one impeachment vote. In December, his opponents wanted to remove him for allegedly receiving illegal payments from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.