Peru's president evades impeachment over payments scandal

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski survived an impeachment vote in congress late on Thursday, thwarting an attempt by opposition politicians to oust him over ties to the Brazilian construction giant implicated in the region's biggest corruption scandal.

Legislators cast their votes after 10 hours of debate over a day that began with the president presenting a forceful defence. He insisted he had no involvement in the payments made by Odebrecht to his private consulting firm more than a decade ago and warned that the rushed impeachment process was a threat to Peru's democracy and stability.