Peru Ex-President Jailed 15 Years for Corruption
In a trial in Peru, former president Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, have been sentenced to prison terms of 15 years each for their participation in a large corruption scandal linked to the Brazilian construction behemoth Odebrecht. The couple was found guilty of money laundering for receiving illegal contributions from Odebrecht and the Venezuelan government to fund Humala’s presidential campaigns in 2006 and 2011.
Immediately after the verdict, Humala, aged 62, was taken in by police custody to a detention facility. His legal team has even declared its intention to appeal that verdict. The ruling was handed down by judge Nayko Coronado, who also issued an arrest warrant for Heredia, who was absent from the hearing and sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Lima at that time. After discussions at the diplomatic level, Peru’s foreign ministry confirmed she was given a safe passage to Brazil with her son.
This means strong change within the Odebrecht scandal, which has implicated four former presidents of Peru.
Humala, an ex-army officer, served from 2011 to 2016 as president, and would be the first among these to face a trial.
The prosecutors had sought a sentence of 20 years for Humala and 26 years for Heredia, claiming that the two “received $3 million in illicit funds” from Odebrecht for the 2011 campaign and $200,000 from former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for the failed 2006 bid. They said Heredia was also found guilty of concealing the real estate transactions related to these illicit funds.
The fit case ran between Humala and Heredia. Both of them are clear to deny all these charges. The same hearing was resulted in Humala declaring that it was a politically motivated verdict and he would continue the battle in law to prove himself innocent.
The Odebrecht scandal is perhaps the biggest case of foreign bribery in modern history. In fact, in 2016, the company admitted it paid a total of over $788 million in bribes in various countries but included at least $29 million paid to Peruvian officials within the span of 2005-2014 for securing public contracts.
The political establishment in Peru stands shaken as a result of these tremors. Former president Alan Garcia, an accused, committed suicide just as police arrived to take him into custody in 2019.
Alejandro Toledo, who was in charge from 2001 to 2006, got a sentence of more than 20 years behind bars last year for having accepted bribes. Investigations against Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, whose term as president lasted from 2016 to 2018, are still open.
Keiko Fujimori, who lost in the runoff elections of 2011 to Humala, was also held for almost 16 months in pre-trial detention for her alleged association with Odebrecht, reiterating that this scandal touches nearly all lines of Peruvian politics.
@wetinconcernme : That is a system that works
@felicia_22: CAN NEVER HAPPEN IN NIGERIA
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