Peru Court Sentences Former President Humala To 15 years

Former President of Peru, Ollanta Humala  and his wife were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by a Peruvian court on Tuesday for graft linked to a globe-spanning corruption scandal involving Brazilian construction group, Odebrecht paying bribes to politicians.

The court found the 62-year-old and his wife Nadine Heredia guilty of money laundering for receiving illegal contributions from Odebrecht and the Venezuelan government in two presidential campaigns.

Humala was taken into custody in the courtroom right after the verdict was read out and later jailed at a police base. His lawyers said they will file an appeal against his conviction.

Judge Nayko Coronado also ordered the arrest of Heredia, who did not attend the sentencing hearing and sought asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Lima.

Peru’s foreign ministry later said that after talks with Brazil she was granted safe passage to travel there with her son.

Humala, a former army officer who led the country from 2011 to 2016, became in 2022 the first Peruvian ex-president to go on trial in the Odebrecht corruption scandal, which has also seen three other former presidents implicated.