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News > Latin America

Peru: Congress Recommends Corruption Probe for Humala and Kuczynski

  • Legislator and president of the Lava Jato, or Car Wash, commission Rosa Bartra.

    Legislator and president of the Lava Jato, or Car Wash, commission Rosa Bartra. | Photo: Twitter / @Pedro_Olaechea

Published 6 November 2018
Opinion

Peru's congressional investigations into Odebrecht-linked corruption results in a request for an official probe into two former presidents. 

The legislative commission investigating the Car Wash corruption case in Peru recommended an official corruption probe into presidents Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), legislator Rosa Bartra announced Monday.

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“This is not the end, it is only the beginning. The Public Ministry, we hope, can collect all the political control facts included in this report,” Bartra said to local media after presenting the commission's final report in Congress.

The final report on politicians and public servants implicated in the corruption scandal involving kickbacks and bribes by Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht between 2005 and 2014 was presented to the plenary Monday.

The plenary will have to vote on whether or not to ratify the 11 recommendations proposed by the commission, including a review of the existing regulations related to the supervision of public contracts, and the launching of internal investigations by the Comptroller General and other institutions for political accountability into why they didn’t apply the required inspection and regulation processes.  

Congress will continue to review the report’s findings Tuesday when legislators are expected to debate its results.   

According to Bartra, there are sufficient elements for a lawsuit against Humala and Kuczynski.

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Former president Ollanta Humala, who is being investigated for money laundering and receiving illicit campaign contributions by Odebrecht, approved three payments (US$18 million, US$98 million, and US$15  million) to Odebrecht via presidential decree, the report details.

The payments were justified on alleged “incidents and delays” in the development of an infrastructure project.

Bartra also explained there are indications that Kuczynski and his former secretary Gloria Kisic incurred in the crime of money laundering due to his participation as a consultant for Odebrecht projects while he was Peru's economy minister (2001-2002 and 2004-2005).

According to the report, the offshore Dorado Asset Management wired US$345,000  to Kuczynski's Westfield Capital. Kuczynski and Kisic are shareholders of Dorado Asset Management.  

The report has been criticized by members of the opposition because it didn’t include any recommendations on Keiko Fujimori, leader of the Popular Force party, which currently holds a congressional majority, and who is currently under investigation for irregular financial contributions by Odebrecht.

According to Bartra, also of Popular Force, Keiko was excluded from the recommendatons because she wasn't involved in the11 infrastruture projects under review. Odebrecht has worked on 40 projects in Peru.

Former president Alan Garcia was also excluded from the report’s conclusions and recommendations for legal action. It is unclear why. 

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