Peru: preventive detention for Pedro Pablo Kuczynksi

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The Judicial Branch of Peru has issued 36 months of preventive detention for the former president in the middle of investigating his relationship with Odebrecht

This Friday, April 19, the Judicial Branch of Peru dictated for the Peruvian president 36 months of preventive jail after having been arrested last Wednesday for the imposition of 10 days of preliminary detention. Kuczynksi, 80, however, spent some days in the clinic because of heart failure.

According to El Comercio de Perú, Judge Jorge Chávez Tamariz ruled out the possibility of a house arrest after having reviewed the defendant's medical conditions. Chavez also argued that "there are serious indications of the commission of the crime, danger of flight and obstruction of the investigation being carried out by the Public Prosecutor's Office".

Leer en español: Perú: dictan prisión preventiva para Pedro Pablo Kuczynksi

Kuczynksi doesn't have any family in Peru because his wife lives in the United States, the country he wanted to travel with the justification of medical procedures. For this reason, the judge has ordered preventive detention as a measure in favor of the investigation.

Read also: A turbulent 2019 start for Peruvian justice

Why is he being investigated?

Pedro Pablo Kuczynksi is being investigated for alleged links with the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht during his tenure as economy minister of the Alejandro Toledo government, that is, from 2001 to 2006. The charge he faces is "money laundering with aggravating by belonging to a criminal organization".

The hypothesis of this investigation dictates that Kuczynksi would have been in charge of taking care of the agreements between the Toledo's government and the Brazilian construction company to give to the construction company, sections 2 and 3 of the Integration of the South American Regional Infrastructure-IIRSA South and the transfer Olmos

According to the BCC, Odebrech would have paid up to $4.8 million for advisory services to Westfield Capital and First Capital, both linked to Kuczynksi when he was still a Toledo government official. Kuczynksi, in addition, according to El Comercio, would have issued decrees to benefit Odebrecht in the projects it pursued.

Kuczynksi was elected president of Peru and his presidential term began in 2016. He had to resign in March 2018 due to his alleged links to Odebrecht and the investigations that the prosecutor's office undertook. Today, a year later, they dictate these 36 months of preventive detention for the former president.

This occurs two days after the former president Alan García ended his life with a gunshot while the authorities in charge prepared to also make a preventive arrest in the framework of the investigation for links with the Brazilian construction company.

The Judicial Branch of Peru also issued a restricted hearing for those also under investigation, Gloria Kisic Wagner and José Luis Bernaola Ñufflo.

Read also: Alán García dies after shooting himself

LatinAmerican Post | Juliana Rodríguez Pabón

Translated from "Perú: dictan prisión preventiva para Pedro Pablo Kapuczynski"