Former Peruvian President Sentenced for Money Laundering

A Peruvian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Ollanta Humala to 15 years in prison for laundering funds received from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht and from the government of then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to finance his campaigns, Al Jazeera reported. 

The National Superior Court found that Humala and his wife Nadine Heredia received almost $3 million from the Brazilian firm and $200,000 from the then-Venezuelan government for the 2006 and 2011 campaigns.  

Heredia’s brother has also been sentenced to 12 years for money laundering in the same case, according to the Associated Press. 

While Humala is in jail, Heredia requested asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Lima, according to Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The trial lasted three years, following an investigation launched about a decade ago. Humala called the charges politically motivated, and his lawyers plan to appeal Tuesday’s decision. 

Humala is the third former Peruvian president to be imprisoned for corruption in the past 20 years, joining Alejandro Toledo, also sentenced for Odebrecht-related financial crimes, and the late Alberto Fujimori, sentenced for corruption and human rights abuses. 

Numerous presidents elected in the past 25 years, as well as other prominent political figures in Peru, have faced legal challenges because of their connections with Odebrecht. In 2016, the firm agreed to pay $3.5 billion in fines to Brazil, the US, and Switzerland after admitting to paying over $788 million in bribes to foreign leaders and government officials to secure infrastructure contracts.