Susana Villarán when she was running for mayor of Lima. AP photo
A prosecutor from Peru asked for 29 years of imprisonment and accused former socialist mayor of Lima, Susana Villarán, of money laundering in a case related to the corruption scandal of the Brazilian company Odebrecht, the prosecutor said Thursday.
“The prosecution asked Villarán for a 29-year prison sentence, for the alleged formation of a criminal organization which has received more than 10 million dollars in illegal contributions from construction companies Odebrecht and OAS to continue in command of the municipality, “the institution said on its Twitter account.
The accusatory file was presented to the National Superior Court of specialized criminal justice by the prosecutor José Domingo Pérez, of the special team of Lava Jato Peru, who has been investigating the cause for five years.
The charge against who was mayor from 2011 to 2014 is “for the crimes of illicit association, collusion, money launderinggeneric falsehood and misrepresentation in an administrative proceeding, “the prosecution said.
what’s coming
The Court must now review the tax file and set a start date for the trial, which can take months.
Villaran, 73, has been on probation since May 2021after spending a year in pre-trial detention and being released due to the pandemic.
The prosecution accuses him of having received $ 10 million from Brazilian construction companies Odebrecht and OAS to finance two election campaigns.
In 2019 the former socialist mayor of the Peruvian capital admitted that Brazilian companies Odebrecht and OAS funded a campaign against the revocation of his mandate that promoted the opposition in 2013.
However, according to her, the contribution was four million dollars, a figure that differs from the 10 million that the accusation claims.
In May last year, the judiciary rejected the prosecutor’s request to extend his pre-trial detention, although it placed a number of restrictions on him, including preventing him from traveling abroad and appearing before judicial requests when required.
Admission
The former head of Odebrecht in Peru, Brazilian Jorge Barata, told Peruvian prosecutors that the company contributed to that campaign because they feared that, in the event of dismissal, the work the company has done for the city would be jeopardized.
Barata’s testimony is part of a collaboration agreement signed between Odebrecht and the Peruvian prosecutor.
The Municipality of Lima manages a large budget for public works contracts.
Peru is one of the countries affected by the Brazilian anti-corruption operation “Lava Jato”, which found that companies in that country paid bribes to officials and the authorities to secure contracts and win tenders inside and outside Brazil.
Odebrecht admitted to US authorities in 2016 that he had paid $ 29 million in bribes in Peru between 2005 and 2014.
Source: AFP and EFE
PB
Source: Clarin
