A cooperating witness told the Public Ministry that former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala —with the knowledge of his wife
Nadine Heredia— received between US$16 million and US$18 million from the so-called Construction Club, Cuarto Poder TV news show reported.
Said witness revealed that the money was delivered in briefcases in exchange for favorable contract awards to a group of construction companies.
According to the report, the intermediaries were Jose Paredes, a classmate of the former president at Chorrillos Military School, and his brother Carlos Paredes, who served as head of the
Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) during Humala's term.
The investigation is carried out by Prosecutor German Juarez.
As reported on the TV show, the witness remarked that in a meeting at the Government Palace Jose Paredes told Humala what had been discussed with Carlos Garcia —a former MTC official and operator of the Construction Club.
Such conversation was about the percentage of bribery (3%) for each work that companies were willing to hand over in order to distribute the projects.
The proposal is said to have been approved on October 7, 2011 considering the requirement that Nadine Heredia should supervise the awarding of the works.
For his part, ex-President Humala rejected allegations of corruption related to the so-called Construction Club and in different circumstances.
(END) VVS/RMB
Published: 2/17/2020