Peru convicts ex-Prosecutor General who tried to obstruct Odebrecht case investigations

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A Peruvian court on Tuesday (7) sentenced former Peruvian Attorney General Pedro Chávarry to four years of suspended imprisonment (without entering jail) for attempting to boycott the investigations of the special team following the Odebrecht case in Peru, whose leaders he dismissed at the end of 2018.

The decision was made by Judge Hugo Nuñez, who found Chávarry guilty of the crime of actual concealment and ordered his disqualification from holding public office for 4 years and the payment of a civil reparation of 100,000 soles (US$24,390).

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The judge pointed out that it has been proven that Chávarry tried to hinder the Lava Jato special team’s investigations so as to favor the interests of the political party Fuerza Popular, led by former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori.

PUBLIC PRESSURE

Chávarry resigned as attorney general on January 7, 2019, amid large citizen demonstrations against him, but remained as a chief prosecutor until August 28, 2020, when he was suspended for 18 months by the Judiciary to no longer have legal protection.

In her accusation, prosecutor Bersabeth Revilla asserted that the former prosecutor sought “to hinder the collection of evidence in the investigations in charge of the special team in the Odebrecht case, to remove members of the political party Fuerza Popular from the ongoing fiscal investigations.”

Revilla recalled that the former judge demanded information from the special team about the collaboration agreement with the Odebrecht company, despite being confidential, and then removed prosecutors Rafael Vela and José Domingo Pérez from their positions in the middle of a public confrontation.

Chávarry dismissed Vela, the head of the special team, and prosecutor Pérez, the prosecutor in charge of high-impact cases such as the one against Fujimori and his party for allegedly financing their electoral campaigns with illicit funds, including from the Odebrecht company, on December 31, 2018.

The then-prosecutor general, who has also been linked to a corruption network in the Judiciary known as “The White Collars of the Port”, argued at the time that the prosecutors had violated the principle of hierarchy in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, having questioned his permanence in the position.

DENUNCIATION

On December 26, 2018, Pérez had denounced Chávarry for the alleged commission of the crime against the administration of justice in the modalities of personal and real cover-up, after arguing that he had “executed acts to hinder or obstruct the effective collaboration agreement with the Odebrecht company.”

Among those under investigation, in this case, are, in addition to Fujimori, former presidents Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), and investigations were also being carried out against former president Alan García (2006-2011), who committed suicide on April 17, 2019, to avoid being arrested.

Chávarry’s presence as attorney general was highly questioned since he took office in July 2018. He was linked to the corruption network in the Judiciary, allegedly led by former judge César Hinostroza, who remains in Spain while his extradition to Peru is being processed.

However, the requests for the then Congress to evaluate his permanence in office were blocked by the majority bench of the pro-Fujimori party Fuerza Popular.

The dismissal of Vela and Pérez was immediately rejected by most social and political sectors of the country. It generated massive citizen mobilizations that led Chávarry to backtrack and reinstate their positions on January 2, 2019. He resigned days later to cease leading the Public Prosecutor’s Office.