ADVERTISEMENT

Keiko Fujimori to Remain in Peru Jail After Court Upholds Ruling

Keiko Fujimori to Remain in Peru Jail After Court Upholds Ruling

(Bloomberg) -- A Peruvian appeals court upheld a pre-trial detention order for opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, who was jailed in October as part of a probe into illicit campaign donations.

The judges were unanimous in their decision to reject Fujimori’s appeal, according to the resolution issued by the court posted on the website of the judiciary. They also upheld a detention order for her former campaign chief Jaime Yoshiyama.

The former congresswoman was given up to 3 years of preventive detention on Oct. 31 on evidence she sought to obstruct an investigation into financing for her 2011 presidential bid using contacts in the judiciary and intimidating witnesses. Fujimori is accused of receiving $1 million from Odebrecht SA, the Brazilian builder at the center of one of Peru’s biggest bribery probes.

The 43-year-old daughter of former autocrat Alberto Fujimori denies the allegations and has said they are politically motivated.

She was the runner up in the 2011 presidential election and lost the 2016 race to Pedro Pablo Kuczynski by less than 50,000 votes. Still, her party, Popular Force, became a political powerhouse by winning 73 of the 130 seats in Peru’s unicameral Congress, the most ever for an opposition party.

She faces up to 13 years in prison if convicted of money laundering.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Quigley in Lima at jquigley8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Bruce Douglas

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.