A Peruvian prosecutor is seeking a 29-year prison sentence for Susana Villaran, the former mayor of Lima, whom she accused of money laundering in a case linked to the Odebrecht corruption scandal, the Public Ministry said on Thursday (25).
“The prosecution sought a 29-year prison sentence from Villarán for allegedly forming a criminal organization that received illegal payments of more than $10 million from construction companies Odebrecht and OAS to maintain the municipality’s responsibility,” the agency said. In a statement on Twitter.
The indictment was submitted to the National Supreme Court of Criminal Justice by prosecutor José Domingo Pérez of the Lava Jato special team in Peru, which has been investigating the case for five years.
The prosecution said the charges against Villarán, who was mayor from 2011 to 2014, were “of conspiracy, collusion, money laundering, general lying and perjury in administrative proceedings”.
The court must now review the file and set a starting date for the hearing, which could take months.
Villarán, 73, has been on parole since May 2021, after a year in detention and being released due to the pandemic.
In 2019, the former mayor admitted that he financed a campaign against the 2013 dismissal of Brazilian companies Odebrecht and OAS by the opposition.
But according to him, the contribution was $4 million, which is a different value from the $10 million the lawmaker claimed.
Brazilian Jorge Barata, former head of Odebrecht in Peru, told Peruvian prosecutors that the company contributed to this campaign because he feared that if it were removed, the company’s work for the city would be jeopardized.
Barata’s statement is part of the cooperation agreement signed between Odebrecht and the Peruvian Public Ministry.
The city of Lima manages a large budget for public works contracts.
Peru is one of the countries targeted by the ‘Lava-Jato’ operation, which discovered a plot to bribe politicians in exchange for concession of public works inside and outside Brazil.
In 2016, Odebrecht admitted to bribing US officials in Peru between 2005 and 2014 for $29 million.
source: Noticias
