Peru’s state oil company Petro-Perú has dismissed three senior managers in recent weeks, with internal sources alleging the firings targeted executives who refused to falsify the company’s financial results.
The latest dismissal, announced on July 30, was that of Luis Morales García, who had headed the corporate finance division since early 2025. He joins former general manager Rita López, who was let go in June, and former general manager José Manuel Rodríguez, who was dismissed days earlier.
Alleged orders to hide losses
According to sources consulted by this outlet, Morales was dismissed after refusing on multiple occasions to follow what they described as questionable orders that put the company’s financial resources at risk. The immediate trigger, sources said, was his refusal to comply with an instruction aimed at concealing the company’s financial losses.
Sources said senior management had directed the finance team to adjust projections so that first-half results would not reflect the true scale of accumulated losses. Morales reportedly refused outright, arguing that doing so would constitute a serious breach of accounting standards and a risk to the integrity of the state company’s financial information.
The dismissal of the finance chief leaves Petro-Perú without one of the few officials who, according to sources, was ensuring accurate accounting of liabilities and transparency in reporting to regulators and the market.
Audit flagged inflated figures
The allegations follow a recent PwC audit that found Petro-Perú had inflated its 2025 financial statements, either through fraud or error. The company had reported a loss of $468 million for 2025 to the SMV securities regulator, when the actual loss was $601 million.
Disputed dismissal procedures
The termination of Rodríguez has also drawn scrutiny. Sources said he was dismissed despite being on active medical leave that was duly registered in the company’s corporate systems, a condition that under a Supreme Court ruling — Cassation 14818-2016 — should shield a worker from dismissal proceedings.
Internal sources further alleged that pressure was applied on certain employees to cancel or reverse the record of Rodríguez’s medical leave in order to make his dismissal administratively viable.
Broader pattern alleged
The three departures come as Petro-Perú faces what sources describe as an unprecedented operational and governance crisis. The Talara Refinery, a central piece of the company’s infrastructure, is operating at 60 percent of capacity and recently halted operations due to a lack of liquidity.
Sources said the dismissals reveal a repeating pattern at the state company: the removal of officials who oppose senior management decisions or report irregularities, while executives with open prosecutorial files remain in their posts.
This outlet contacted Petro-Perú for comment before publication but received no response.
