Ruling party, opposition urge Peru VP to resign

Peruvian lawmakers said on Monday that Vice-President Omar Chehade should resign as soon as possible over corruption allegations to put an end to the first political scandal of Ollanta Humala's young presidency.

Humala, a leftist former military officer, said late on Sunday he believed Chehade should consider quitting over allegations he engaged in illegal lobbying.

But he said he would not fire Chehade before the attorney general and Congressional committees conclude their investigations into the scandal.

Chehade reportedly planned to address the issue on Monday, though he stayed silent throughout the day even as a growing number of lawmakers called on him to quit and a third Congressional committee opened an investigation.

Not long after taking office, allegations surfaced that Chehade asked a police general to help his brother evict workers from a cooperative sugar farm to help a company that wants to take it over. Chehade, a lawyer who is defending himself in the inquiries, has denied any wrongdoing.

"I think to resolve this crisis he must resign. His position has become untenable and with each hour that passes, he looks like a rebel," opposition lawmaker and former Prime Minister Javier Velasquez Quesquen told Reuters.

Since Peru's constitution affords Humala two vice presidents, Chehade's departure would not hurt institutional stability. The other vice president is Marisol Espinoza.

"His resignation would resolve a political crisis, instead of generating one," Velasquez Quesquen said.

He said the 3-week-old crisis had stalled Humala's social welfare agenda, even though the president on Saturday rolled out a program that provides the elderly poor with a minimum monthly pension.

Humberto Lay, the head of the ethics panel in Congress that is leading one of the investigations, said Chehade should go.

"He's damaging the government," he said.