The Justice of Peru annuls the request for 35 years in prison for former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski

( Spanish) — The Seventh National Preparatory Investigation Court of Peru declared this Monday founded the protection of rights raised by the defense of former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and ruled as null and void all the proceedings in the process he faces for alleged money laundering.

The Judiciary reported on Twitter that, now, the Prosecutor’s Office must carry out a new financial-accounting expertise.

The ex-president’s defense requested the annulment of the tax provision that closed the preparatory investigation against him in the Westfield Capital case for having occurred “abruptly” and because there were “pending proceedings,” according to what his lawyer Julio Midolo told the media.

?#Audiences |Seventh National Preparatory Investigation Court analyzes protection of rights requested by the defense of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski investigated for the crime of money laundering
➡️rmation https://t.co/lVU5FEbQOe pic.twitter.com/8ysHcL5Qeg

– Judicial Power Peru (@Poder_Judicial_) May 22, 2023

Last Friday, the Public Ministry of Peru requested 35 years in prison for former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski for alleged money laundering, according to the Andina state agency.

Prosecutor José Domingo Pérez, who is in charge of the Lava Jato special team —which investigates alleged acts of corruption linked to the Brazilian company Odebrecht and other construction companies to benefit from public works tenders in the country—, presented the accusation against the former president. the agency added.

requested information on this matter from the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office.

Kuczynski has repeatedly defended his innocence. In an interview with local media, his lawyer Julio Midolo said that the former president is “calm” and that they are waiting for formal notification about the request from the Prosecutor’s Office.

The next step would be the beginning of the accusation control, which is a stage between the accusation and the trial, which will determine if the Prosecutor’s request proceeds.

Kuczynski has been under house arrest since April 2019, when the Judiciary authorized 36 months of preventive detention against him, in the framework of an investigation for alleged money laundering in the case. PPK, as he is also known, has denied the accusations against him.

The investigation against Kuczynski dates back to December 2017, when it was published that he had allegedly been a partner in the company First Capital Partners (FCP), a financial consultancy that would have advised the consortium headed by Odebrecht. At that time, the president denied such a relationship.

At that time, Kuczynski acknowledged that he did advise H2Olmos SA, an Odebrecht company that won the bid for an irrigation project called Olmos.

This scandal cost Kuczynski the presidency, who resigned in March 2018, before the imminent vote in Congress on a vacancy request against him. After his resignation, the judiciary prohibited him from leaving Peru for 18 months.

— With information from Kiarinna Parisi of en Español.