LIMA.- The former Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori sits on the bench this Monday at the opening of the trial for money laundering within the scandal Odebrechtfor which he could receive a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
For the past six years, the special team of “Lava Jato” prosecutors investigated the daughter of the elderly ex-president Alberto Fujimori, who was pardoned in December 2023 when he was serving a sentence for human rights violations.
The oral trial against Keiko Fujimori is taking place in a Lima court, but the process – in which some 1,500 witnesses have been summoned – could take more than a year.
The Judiciary ordered that Fujimori be present at the installation hearing.
The Peruvian prosecutor’s office concluded that Fujimori financed his 2011 and 2016 campaigns with money from Odebrecht that he did not declare.
According to the prosecution, the Brazilian construction company gave 1.2 million dollars to Fujimori, within the bribery scheme he set up around Latin America in exchange for contracts.
Fujimori, 49, leader of Fuerza Popular, Peru’s main right-wing party, has always defended his innocence.
Mother of two teenagers and still with presidential aspirations, Fujimori has been in preventive detention twice, 16 months in total, for this reason.
The Odebrecht corruption scandal in Peru has also implicated four former presidents of the country, between 2001 and 2016.
“Absolution”
Keiko Fujimori is charged with money laundering, organized crime, obstruction of justice, falsification and false statements in an administrative procedure.
Although contributions to campaigns from foreign companies were allowed at the time, the prosecutor’s office prosecuted the Peruvian politician for not having declared the income from Odebrecht.
There are 45 other defendants in the same case, including her ex-husband, Italian-American Mark Vito, and former leaders of the Fujimori party.
Judge Nayko Coronado presides over the Third Criminal Court of the National Superior Court, which will decide the guilt or innocence of the eldest daughter of the Fujimori clan.
If found guilty and the trial concludes before 2026, Keiko Fujimori will not be able to run in that year’s elections.
“This case has no legal future, it will end in an acquittal,” said Giulliana Loza, Fujimori’s lawyer, in statements to the Latina television channel.
The defense alleges that the money for which they intend to sanction Fujimori is of legal origin, so “it is not money laundering,” according to Loza.
The prosecution is asking for 30 years and 10 months in prison for the three-time Peruvian presidential candidate.
Four former presidents investigated
Former Odebrecht bosses said they had distributed millions of dollars to Peruvian politicians, including Fujimori and four former presidents: Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2018-2016), Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), Alan García (1985-1990 and 2006-2011) and Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006).
When he was going to be arrested as part of the investigations, former President García committed suicide with a firearm.
With weak institutions and political parties in crisis, Peru is the country hardest hit by the Odebrecht scandal, after Brazil.
The Peruvian judicial system is currently prosecuting former presidents Humala and Toledo in parallel.
The prosecutor in the case had requested in 2020 that Fuerza Popular be banned as a political party, alleging that it was a “criminal organization.”
Justice rejected him, allowing him to compete in the last general elections in 2021 and win 24 seats in Congress out of a total of 130.
Fujimorism is the main force in the fragmented Congress, which it controls together with other right-wing groups.
Keiko Fujimori’s party has opposed opposition calls for President Dina Boluarte to be impeached.
Source: With information from AFP
