The next president of the country and the political party that supports him in Congress it could have a strained relationship with the prosecution and the judiciary, for suspicions of money laundering or corruption offenses of officials.
This situation can occur with either of the two presidential candidates in the race, who wins the second round: rural teacher Pedro Castillo Terrones and politician Keiko Fujimori Higuchi.
The Cerrón factor
Rural professor Pedro Castillo has no lawsuits, but his main political support is doctor Vladimir Cerrón, the founding leader of Peru Libre, and his brother, Waldemar Cerrón, a possible congressman from Peru Libre for Junin.
Cerrón is serving a four-year prison sentence, which has been suspended for three years by the rules of conduct. The sentence expires in October 2022. But an appeal for cassation is still pending in the Supreme Court of Justice.
He was convicted of the crime of incompatible negotiation by favoring a consortium in sanitation works in the city of La Oroya, after taking over the position of regional governor of Junín, 2010-2014. This conviction saved him from a second term as regional governor.
However, the most complicated are two other investigations he has in the public prosecutor’s office. 1) The Sixth Corporate Criminal Prosecutor’s Office in Huancayo is investigating him, together with his brothers Waldemar Cerrón Roja and Fritz Elías Cerrón Rojas and other leaders of his party, for the alleged crime of money laundering.
In addition, 2) the Supraprovincial Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Cerrón for events related to the Antalsis case and businessman Martín Belaunde Lossio. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Cerrón received two Nissan Frontier trucks in the 2010 elections, in exchange for which it favored Antalsis and Corporation Asia SAC in the contracts for the construction of the Comuneros and Identidad bridges.
The Fujimori case
Keiko Fujimori and his Fuerza Popular party, and previously Fuerza 2011, have been under investigation since 2015 for alleged money laundering in the collection and use of millions of soles for the 2011 and 2016 political campaigns.
Last March, prosecutor José Domingo Pérez requested 30 years and 10 months in prison for Fujimori for alleged money laundering, criminal organization, obstruction of justice and false statements.
The indictment includes her husband Mark Vito, his lawyers and other important leaders of the Fuerza Popular. In addition, the prosecutor asked the court to order the dissolution of the Fujimori political group as an instrument of the alleged crime, if a conviction is handed down.
The allegations of obstruction of justice are related to activities from the time he was a congressman of the Fuerza Popular, in the period 2016-2019, which allegedly tried to influence the former prosecutor of the Nation Pedro Chávarry to counter the investigations.
Fujimori rejects the accusations and attributes the accusations to political persecution. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Fujimori and his party “washed” more than 15 million feet of illicit origin in election campaigns.
The money came from Odebrecht and Peruvian businessmen, whom he would have favored through laws and contracts, if he wins the election and becomes president.
The case is awaiting the control of the criminal investigation and the respective process is taking place, which could take about three more years until the sentence is pronounced. As long as there is no confirmed conviction, Keiko Fujimori enjoys all his rights and can take over the presidency.
Is the process continuing or is it suspended?
Constitutionalist Omar Cairo believes that, If Keiko Fujimori is elected president, by the mandate of Article 117 of the Constitution, the criminal proceedings against her will be suspended until July 2026.
Within the PJ and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, they consider that Article 117 speaks of the fact that he cannot present an accusation, but not of the accusations that were previously presented.
He mentions the case of Congressman Daniel Urresti who is participating in the trial or the summons of former President Martín Vizcarra to testify in the Swing case.
In any case, the trial will advance until the summons to public trial, at which time it would be reserved against Fujimori and would continue against the others involved.
Decision. Justice will have the final decision. Photo: Virgilio Grajeda / Republica
Washed
Crime. Accusations of money laundering offenses in an election campaign are still a matter of legal debate. In 2018, Congress incorporated the crime of illicit financing of political campaigns into the Criminal Code. The prosecution considers these to be two different crimes.
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