Corruption, Law & Justice

Ex-President Humala and Nadine Heredia go to trial, face sentences of over 20 years

Ex-President Humala and Nadine Heredia go to trial, face sentences of over 20 years
Ex-President Ollanta Humala and Nadine Heredia, in Chupaca, Pasco during his presidency. Source:Andina

A district attorney is calling for sentences of 20 and 26 years in the case brought before the court this week against ex-President Ollanta Humala and his wife Nadine Heredia.  The charge is money laundering, and in Heredia’s case, the additional crime of concealment.

The district attorney for money laundering and organized crime, German Suarez, charges that the Humalas received campaign funds from Venezuela (for their unsuccessful presidential bid in 2006) and from the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht in 2011, and that part of those funds were used for their own personal gain.

Ten other persons are also charged, including Nationalist Party members, and relatives of Heredia.  The district attorney is also calling for the dissolution of the Nationalist Party.

Wilfredo Pedraza, a member of the Humala-Heredia defense team and minister of the Interior during the Humala administration, called the sentences “bombastic.”  The terms are the maximum allowed for the alleged crimes.

Investigations began four and a half years ago, during Humala’s presidency, when a domestic servant stole several of Heredia’s personal diaries that included hand-written entries of monies received.  Heredia initially denied the handwriting and even the diaries were hers. Despite appeals by the Humala defense team that the diaries had been stolen and could easily have been altered, they have remained as part of the docket.

Ollanta Humala and Nadine Heredia spent 10 months in preventive custody and were released in April 2018 when the Constitutional Court ruled their imprisonment was excessive.

The district attorney’s charges of money laundering are based on the premise that the funds given by Odebrecht in 2011 were illicit and were possibly given in exchange for future favors or contracts during the Humala administration.   There are, however, no charges of bribery or other crimes that could involve government decisions.

One of the defense team’s main arguments is that until 2018 there were no restrictions on campaign financing — not on the sources, whether foreign or local, and none on how the funds had to be spent or invested.   Additionally, Odebrecht did not generate illicit income, such as through drug trafficking.

The district attorney’s documents have been given to Justice Richard Concepción. The trial is expected to begin three months from now and will most probably continue for a year, with weekly hearings.

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One Comment

  1. They need to be made an example of. They were President and First Lady of Peru. I think 20 & 26 years are a little too much, maybe 10 to 12 years.

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