Peru’s Justice Orders Trial of Former President Humala and His Wife

A Peruvian judge ordered this Friday (19.11.2021) to open an oral trial against former President Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and his wife Nadine Heredia in the framework of the investigation that follows them for alleged money laundering in the alleged irregular contribution of the Brazilian company Odebrecht in their electoral campaigns.
Through a resolution, Judge Richard Concepción, of the First Preparatory Investigation Court of the National Superior Court, issued an indictment against Humala and Heredia, for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requests 20 and 26 years in prison, respectively.
In addition to the former presidential couple, the former first lady’s brother, Ilan Heredia Alarcón, and her mother, Antonia Alarcón, among other members of her family circle and close friends, as well as the Peruvian Nationalist Party chaired by Humala, are also implicated in this case.
Irregular money from Odebrecht and Venezuela
With this resolution, the judge declared the formal validity of the accusatory request presented by the anti-corruption prosecutor Germán Juárez in May 2019 and ordered to refer the case to the Collegiate Criminal Court in order to set the date for the holding of the oral trial.
According to the thesis of the Public Ministry, Humala and Heredia would have received and concealed irregular money from Odebrecht and the Government of Venezuela to finance their electoral campaigns of 2006 and 2011.
In this case, the statement of the former superintendent of Odebrecht in Peru Jorge Barata was key, who revealed the delivery of 3 million dollars to the former president’s campaign.
During the investigation of this case, Humala and Heredia remained in prison for 9 months between 2017 and 2018, when the Constitutional Court ordered their release for discrepancies in the use of pretrial detention.
Other ongoing research
This money laundering investigation parallels the case against Humala and Heredia for alleged crimes related to the concession of the South Peruvian Gas Pipeline to a consortium led by Odebrecht in 2014.
As a result of this case, Heredia was prevented from leaving Peru and, since September 2020, she has been serving a house arrest order, a measure that her defense asked to change to appearance with restrictions.
But, as the newspaper El Comercio advanced this Friday, the Judicial Branch declared unfounded this request of the lawyer of the accused, whom they accuse of the commission of the crime of collusion and others in tort of the State.

Original source in Spanish