Ministry Counselors linked to scandals

Although in  2014  the Supreme Court ruled that   Counseling ministers have no constitutional basis they continue to exist without portfolio and with all the perks attached to a Ministerial post and two of them  Eyra Ruiz and José Alejandro Rojas linked to scandals.

Ruiz, in the Ministry of  Health, has been the target of criticism for several of her actions, such as the authorization for a vaccination day in the National Assembly, as the executive secretary of Panavac-19. She also acknowledged knowing Denisse Vega, owner of the Coco del Mar Suites building, where 17 people paid $200 each to receive the Pfizer vaccine, reports La Prensa.

While Rojas Pardini, Minister Counselor for Facilitation of Private Investment, is linked to the board of directors of the restaurant Salvaje, where last month a young man died when a railing came off. Rojas Pardini appears in millionaire loan documents with Jaime Ventura Álvarez, who held the position of secretary of the company that owns Salvaje, until February 2020.

Although both were appointed as advisory ministers, they appear on the state payroll with other positions. Ruiz remains a doctor in the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and earns $7,562 a month. Rojas appears as executive secretary of the Secretariat of the Economy of the Presidency and earns $6,000 (salary and representation expenses).

Like the ministers, they have an official car and administrative staff. In addition, they use a diplomatic passport and can accompany the president on international trips and activities as ministers. Their function, which is not established in the Constitution or in the decrees that designate them, would be to advise the president on complex issues.

The Supreme Court, in a ruling of July 3, 2014, ruled on the figure of the Minister Counselor and said that it has no constitutional basis.