Keiko Fujimori Sent Back to Prison

Peruvian politician Keiko Fujimori has been sent back to prison for her alleged involvement in the Odebrecht scandal following two months of freedom. (Wikimedia)

Peruvian politician Keiko Fujimori has been sent back to prison after a prosecutorial appeal of her release last November. Previously, Fujimori spent 13 months in prison, and she has been sentenced to 15 more. While Fujimori has not been officially charged with a crime, she is under investigation for money laundering in connection with the Odebrecht scandal. 

Fujimori is a member of Peru’s conservative Fuerza Popular party. She was the party’s presidential nominee in 2011 and 2016, but she lost narrowly both times. She has been accused of accepting more than a million dollars from Brazillian company Odebrecht to finance her 2011 campaign. In his official decision on Fujimori’s return to jail, which took more than eight hours to read, Judge Víctor Zúñiga said there was a substantial risk that Fujimori would either interfere with the investigation or flee the country if she was not imprisoned for the duration of the investigation.

Shortly after being taken back into custody, Fujimori released a pre-recorded video message on Facebook in which she denies any wrongdoing and calls the accusations against her politically-motivated. In the video, she also vows to fight against the injustices she is facing, including by having her husband petition foreign governments to get involved in her case. 

Fujimori is by no means the only Latin American politician implicated in the Odebrecht scandal. The company has admitted to paying at least $29 million in bribes to Peruvian government officials since 2004. In addition to Fujimori, three former Peruvian presidents have received orders for jail time due to their alleged involvement. Some officials in Peru say that this recent prosecution of high-level politicians is a result of Peru’s efforts to combat systemic corruption in the country.

Fujimori’s return to prison comes at a difficult time for her party, which lost dozens of seats and its congressional majority, in last Sunday’s election. This defeat, combined with the imprisonment of two members of the Fujimori family, may indicate that Fujimorismo is finally collapsing in Peru.