Former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of money laundering in a landmark ruling by a court in Lima. The conviction marks a significant chapter in Peru’s ongoing reckoning with high-level corruption, especially tied to the sprawling Odebrecht bribery scandal.
The court found that Humala, 62, had accepted $3 million in illegal campaign contributions from the Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht to fund his successful 2011 presidential campaign. He was also found to have received $200,000 from then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to support his earlier bid for office in 2006.
Humala’s wife and former first lady, Nadine Heredia, was also found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 15 years. She did not appear in court, having sought asylum in the Brazilian embassy in Lima with the couple’s son shortly before her arrest warrant could be executed. Brazil has since granted her asylum, and she arrived in Brasília on Wednesday. According to her lawyer, she is expected to continue to São Paulo.
In contrast, Humala was taken directly from court to Barbadillo prison, where he joins two other former Peruvian presidents—Alejandro Toledo and Pedro Castillo—both incarcerated for corruption-related charges.
Humala’s defense team has vowed to appeal the ruling, with his lawyer, Wilfredo Pedraza, calling the 15-year sentence “excessive.” Prosecutors had originally sought 20 years for Humala and 25 and a half years for Heredia.
A Pattern of Corruption Among Peru’s Presidents
Humala is the first among four Peruvian presidents to be formally convicted in connection with Odebrecht, which admitted to paying hundreds of millions in bribes to political figures across Latin America.
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Alejandro Toledo (2001–2006) was sentenced to over 20 years for taking $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht.
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Alan García (1985–1990, 2006–2011) died by suicide in 2019 as police arrived to arrest him on bribery allegations.
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Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016–2018) resigned amid impeachment proceedings tied to Odebrecht payments during his earlier public service. He maintains the payments were legal.
Humala, a former army officer who once rebelled against President Alberto Fujimori in 2000, rose to prominence as a populist candidate aligned with Chávez’s socialist rhetoric in 2006. After losing to García that year, he returned with a more centrist platform in 2011, aligning with Brazil’s then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He defeated Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the former authoritarian leader.
Despite early popularity, Humala’s administration quickly ran into trouble amid social unrest and political fragmentation. His legal troubles began after his term ended in 2016, when Odebrecht’s revelations prompted a wide-ranging investigation.
Initially placed in pre-trial detention alongside his wife in 2017, the couple was released after a year, but the legal process continued until this week’s decisive ruling.
Both Humala and Heredia continue to claim that they are victims of political persecution. As Heredia settles in Brazil under asylum, attention now turns to Humala’s appeal and the broader implications for Peru’s political landscape, long marred by corruption scandals at the highest levels.
By FCCT Editorial Team freeslots dinogame telegram营销
