In a strange twist of fate, former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has been ordered to share jail facilities with ex-President Alberto Fujimori,whom he pardoned on Christmas Eve 2017 and whose political movement, led by daughter Keiko Fujimori, hounded Kuczynski from the day he was elected until he was forced to resign from the presidency in March last year.
On Wednesday, District attorney Domingo Perez suddenly changed his initial request for house arrest and asked Judge Jorge Chavez in the preparatory investigation court to issue an order for 36 months’ preventive imprisonment. The court convened early Friday afternoon for the ruling, even though it was Good Friday, a religious and national holiday observed nationwide. Kuczynski’s initial 10-day preliminary imprisonment was set to expire this weekend. D.A. Perez believes Kuczynski poses a flight risk.
The allegations, still in the preliminary stages of investigation even after a year, are that Kuczynski received illicit money from Odebrecht’s off-the-books Caja 2 and laundered it by transferring it to a bank account held by his driver and a joint bank account that he held with his secretary. His defense argues that money received from Odebrecht was fully legal, as consultancy fees, and paid by the Brazilian firm’s legal operations. The bank transfers, in the case of the driver, were to pay household management and utilities of his San Isidro home and weekend home in Cieneguilla, and transfers to his secretary were for larger expenses and payments.
Both Kuczynski’s long-time driver, Jose Luis Bernaola, and his personal secretary, Gladys Jesus Kisic, were released on Tuesday night, six days after their arrest. They are to report to the judiciary on a regular basis, and pay a S/.20,000 fine.
Kuczynski’s attorney, Cesar Nakasaki, who was once also Alberto Fujimroi’s attorney, is to appeal the ruling and request house arrest on the grounds that the defendant is 80 years old. The former president has an artifical heart valve and was hospitalized Tuesday evening for a catheterization. His condition is stable, according to his brother, Michael Kuczynksi. The medical report given to the court states there is “no permanent physical incapacity nor incurable disease,” which led D.A. Perez to decided against house arrest and file for the preventive jail term.
It is “capricious to argue that age is a reason” for not imprisoning the defendant, according to D.A. Rafael Vela, who heads the team investigating the Odebrecht-Lava Jato bribery scandals.
Gilbert Violeta, leader of the PPK party in Congress, said he was surprised by the judge’s decision. “Anyone with half a brain can see the judge, giving 36 months in prison to an 80-year-old man, is practically handing down a death sentence.”
Michael Kuczynski said he would not comment on the ruling. “I have great respect for the judge, but it appears to me that he needs some help for his work , that he hasn’t had in the court.”
Es una tragedia que “la mano invisible de la avaricia” ha cogido tantos lideres de dos paises quienes deberian ser ejemplos. Estos paises, Brasil y Peru, estan llenos de muchos pobres que solo buscan la oportunidad de mejorar sus vidas.
Es una tragedia que “la mano invisibile de la avaricia” ha cogido tantos lideres de dos paises quienes deberian ser ejemplos. Estos paises estan llenos de muchos pobres que solo buscan la oportunidad de mejorar su vida.