Peru’s former president, Ollanta Humala, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of money laundering. A court in Lima ruled that Humala received illegal campaign contributions from then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to support his presidential bids in 2006 and 2011, BBC reported.
His wife, Nadine Heredia, was also handed a 15-year sentence after being found guilty of participating in the same money laundering scheme. However, Heredia was not present in court during sentencing. She had already entered the Brazilian embassy in Lima with the couple’s son, avoiding immediate arrest.
Brazil has granted Heredia asylum, and the Peruvian government has agreed to provide safe passage in line with the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum.
Humala’s lawyer stated that the former president would appeal the conviction.
The former president, 62, was meanwhile taken to Barbadillo prison, where two other former leaders, Alejandro Toledo and Pedro Castillo, are already being held.
Humala was the first Peruvian president to be investigated in connection with the Odebrecht scandal.
Toledo, who governed from 2001 to 2006, was sentenced last year to more than 20 years in prison for taking $35m (£26m) in bribes from the company.
Alan García, president from 1985 to 1990 and 2006 to 2011, killed himself in 2019 as he faced imminent arrest over allegations he was bribed by Odebrecht. He denied the accusations.
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, in office from 2016 to 2018, faced impeachment proceedings after it emerged that Odebrecht had paid him millions of dollars in his previous government role.
Kuczynski has always maintained the payments were not illegal but an investigation is ongoing.
Prosecutors said that Humala and his wife, with whom he cofounded the Nationalist Party, had accepted $3m in illegal contributions from the firm, which they used to finance his 2011 presidential campaign.
They also accused him of taking $200,000 from Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez to bankroll the 2006 campaign.
The couple have always maintained that they are the victims of political persecution.
Humala's lawyer, Wilfredo Pedraza, also said that their 15-year sentence was "excessive".
Prosecutors had asked for 20 years for the ex-president and 25 and a half years for Heredia.
