Former President of Peru faces Justice 3:24
(CNN Spanish) — Former President Pedro Castillo has been accused of rebellion and conspiracy after he announced on Wednesday the dissolution of Congress, which subsequently voted a job posting motion against him. Castillo is far from the only former Peruvian president to have problems with the law. Here is an overview of five cases.
Pedro Castillo (2021 – 2022): Charged with rebellion and conspiracy, amid multiple investigations
What’s next for Pedro Castillo after stepping down from power? 1:13
Congress on Wednesday approved a job posting motion against Castillo after the former president announced the dissolution of the legislature and his intention to rule by decree. Shortly after Castillo was arrested.
A court in Peru this Thursday examined the prosecutor’s request to have him remanded in custody for seven days in flagrante delicto, on the grounds that there was a risk of absconding from the country. Castillo’s defense, for its part, dismissed the allegations of rebellion and conspiracy against the president and dismissed the prosecution’s allegations.
Castillo faced a number of investigations into whether he used his position for the good of himself, his family and his closest allies, including peddling through influence peddling to obtain favors or preferential treatment.
Castillo has repeatedly denied all allegations and reiterated his willingness to cooperate with any investigation. He argues that the allegations are the result of a witch hunt against him and his family by groups that did not accept his election victory.
The former president faces five criminal investigations into allegations of involvement in corruption schemes during his tenure. These include prosecutors’ allegations that he ran a “criminal network” that intervened in public institutions such as the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Housing and Peru’s state oil company to control public bidding processes and benefit companies in targeted and close allies .
Prosecutors are also investigating whether the former president attempted to influence the process of officer promotions in both the armed forces and the national police force.
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018): investigated
Alex Kuczynski: Pre-trial detention is a death sentence 3:25
Former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has been under house arrest since April 2019, when the judiciary approved 36 months of preventive detention for him as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering in the Odebrecht case. PPK, as it is known in Peru, has denied the allegations.
The investigation into Kuczynski dates back to December 2017, when it was revealed that he was allegedly a partner in First Capital Partners (FCP), a financial consultancy that would have advised the consortium surrounding the Brazilian company Odebrecht. At the time, the President denied any such relationship.
At the time, Kuczynski admitted that he had advised H2Olmos SA, an Odebrecht-based company that had won the tender for an irrigation project called Olmos.
This scandal cost Kuczynski the presidency, who resigned in March 2018. After his resignation, the judiciary prohibited him from leaving Peru for 18 months.
Ollanta Humala (2011-2016): first attempt for Lava Jato in Peru
Peru: what will happen to Humala? 0:36
The oral trial of former President Ollanta Humala and his wife Nadine Heredia, the first in Peru’s Lava Jato case, began in Lima this February.
Prosecutors allege that the Nationalist Party, for which Ollanta Humala ran for president in 2006 and 2011, allegedly received illegal funds from the government of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, as well as grants from Brazilian construction company Odebretch.
In either case, the money would have been used to fund both campaigns. For the prosecutor’s office, part of this money received was justified by false donors.
Throughout the tax investigation, both Humala and Heredia have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Humala and Heredia are facing charges of the crime of aggravated money laundering, for which they are seeking 20 years in prison for the former president and 26 years for the former first lady.
Humala and Heredia were detained for 18 months in July 2017 at the request of prosecutors while the case was still under investigation. At the time, Judge Richard Concepción Carhuancho felt that there were enough elements to change the condition of both and put them in prison. Humala was the first former Peruvian president to be imprisoned over the Odebrecht case.
Alejandro Toledo (2001 – 2006): with extradition request
A US judge approved the extradition of ex-President Alejandro Toledo to Peru in 2021. The former president’s attorney said at the time that he would appeal to try to overturn the decision.
According to Peruvian authorities, Toledo, which ruled the country between 2001 and 2006, received up to $30 million in alleged bribes from the construction company Odebrecht to favor the Brazilian company in doing business in Peru.
In his ruling, the judge who confirmed the extradition said that based on the testimony of two witnesses “in connection with Toledo’s admission in this extradition trial that he received approximately $500,000 in bribes,” “probable cause” was determined that the former President “colluded in collusion” and money laundering.”
It also has another ongoing investigation, the case known as Ecoteva, for the alleged crime of money laundering. According to the prosecutor’s theory, both cases constitute a single case.
The former president was arrested in July 2019 on an extradition order issued to the United States in May 2018. Toledo is under house arrest in California.
At the time, Toledo denied the allegations, calling them political persecution. In 2017 he went to the USA.
Alberto Fujimori (1990 – 2000): convicted of murder and in prison
Alberto Fujimori is released again at 1:15
Former President Alberto Fujimori is serving a 25-year sentence for the crimes of manslaughter, aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping committed during his reign. In addition, in 2015 he received another 8 years in prison for embezzlement.
Fujimori made headlines again on Christmas Eve 2017 when then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski granted him a humanitarian pardon. But in 2019, the convicted former president returned to prison after his humanitarian pardon was overturned in October 2018.
His possible release had another chapter this year when the Peruvian Constitutional Court granted a detention review in favor of the former President, presented by lawyer Gregorio Parco Alarcón, after which the former President should leave prison.
However, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights later asked the Peruvian state not to implement the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in April 2019 and updated in December 2022.