Peru is investigating a loud case of corruption. Four former presidents of the country became his defendants, one of them committed suicide

The court in Lima appointed Former President Peru Pablo Kuchinski three years of preliminary imprisonment as part of the investigation of the case of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. Kuchinski is suspected of laundering money received from Odebrecht as bribes. According to Peruvian laws, the suspects can be in prison for up to three years, if the prosecution proves that they will try to escape or interfere with the investigation, being free. The 80-year-old ex-president is now in the hospital: he has heart problems.

In the early 2000s, Kuchinski held the post of Minister of Finance and Economy Peru, after which he became the prime minister. In 2016, he was elected president of the country. At the end of 2017, Odebrecht, as part of the settlement of the international corruption scandal, admitted that she paid almost five million dollars for consulting services associated with Kuchinsky to FIRST Capital and Westfield Capital. According to the prosecution, President Peru spent this money on personal needs, including the purchase of a mansion in the elite area of ​​Lima. Due to the scandal with Odebrecht, Kuchinsky resigned in March 2018.

Odebrecht is a construction giant from Brazil, at the peak of its success in 2010, which had more than 180 thousand employees in 21 countries of the world. The company participated in large infrastructure projects in South America, including built the metro in Karakas and facilities for the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In 2015, as part of the investigation of the case of corruption, the Brazilian law enforcement agencies arrested the head of Odebrecht Marcelbracht and a number of top managers of the company. They concluded a deal with the investigation and gave a confession.

It was found that Odebrecht from 2001 to 2016 paid as bribes $ 788 million in 12 Latin America countries. The recipients of the money were politicians who helped Odebrecht with receiving profitable contracts. The most senior politician convicted of bribes from the company was the vice-president of Ecuador Horge Glass, who in December 2017 was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of receiving $ 13.5 million from Odebrecht.

In Peru, according to Odebrecht management, the company paid bribes for $ 29 million. Four former presidents of the country were suspected of receiving money from a construction giant. In addition to Pablo Kuchinski, this is Alejandro Toledo (headed Peru in 2001-2006), Olyant of Umala (was the president in 2011-2016) and Alan Garcia, who held the presidential post twice-from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011. On April 17, Garcia committed suicide when the police came to take him under the arrest in the Odebrecht case. At his funeral, Garcia's daughter read out his suicide note in which the former president announced his innocence. “There were no accounts, no bribes, no wealth. <...> Others are sold - I'm not, ” wrote Garcia.

Olga Korelina