Peru Prosecutor’s Office denounces ex-President Kuczynski over pardon granted Alberto Fujimori

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Peru’s Prosecutor’s Office today brought a constitutional complaint before Congress against ex-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018) and former legislator Kenji Fujimori for the “humanitarian” pardon granted to ex-President Alberto Fujimori in December 2017.

This type of prosecutorial complaint entails requesting Parliament to lift the legal immunity protecting former Peruvian presidents for 5 years after the end of their terms in order to be able to initiate legal proceedings against the accused.

The Prosecutor alleges that Kuczynsky’s pardon of Fujimori was granted to prevent his dismissal as head of state for moral incompetence for his alleged links to Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

Public Prosecutor Zoraida Ávalos considered that there are sufficient arguments to constitutionally denounce the ex-President for allegedly committing a crime against public administration in the form of aggravated influence peddling and passive bribery.

Former legislator Kenji Fujimori, son of the pardoned ex-President, is also accused of the same crimes, while former Ministers of Justice and Health, Enrique Mendoza and Fernando D’Alessio, respectively, are accused of the alleged crime of passive bribery.

All of them will be prosecuted directly by the ordinary justice system, without having to go undergo Congressional review, as they are no longer protected by the Constitution.

Specifically, the accusation sustains that Kuczynski appointed Mendoza and D’Alessio to two key Ministries to facilitate Fujimori’s pardon, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity.

The youngest of the former President’s sons, on the other hand, is accused of “having promised benefits or advantages” to Kuczynski for him to sign the resolution that would pardon his father.

CONTROVERSIAL PARDON

Fujimori’s controversial pardon was granted on December 24, 2017 under serious allegations that it was a political agreement between Fujimori and Kuczynski.

Among the alleged irregularities was the suspicion that the pardon was part of a political negotiation by the then president to prevent Congress from impeaching him in exchange for the abstention votes of a small group of dissident Fujimorists along with Keiko Fujimori, headed by Kenji.

Due to these irregularities, in October 2018 the Peruvian courts overturned Fujimori’s presidential pardon. Fujimori still has approximately 10 years left to serve in prison, which means he will not be released until 2033, when he will be 94 years old.

Kuczynski is currently serving house arrest for another investigation against him for alleged involvement in money laundering of illegal origin also from Odebrecht through consultancies in the name of Westfield Capital, one of his companies registered in the United States, when he served as Minister under ex-President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006).

Kuczynski resigned in March 2018, shortly after having signed the pardon, when the alleged corruption case came to light, a step he took to prevent Congress from impeaching him outright.

BARRED FROM LEAVING PERU

At the same time, anti-corruption Prosecutor José Domingo Pérez on Thursday issued an order to prevent Kuczynski from leaving the country due to the investigation against him for alleged acts of corruption linked to the Interoceánica Sur highway project, awarded to Odebrecht.

Through an official notice sent to Judge Jorge Chávez Tamariz, in charge of the Third Court of Preliminary Investigation, Pérez also requested that the former head of state be ordered to appear in court subject to restrictions.