In a major ruling on Tuesday, a Peruvian court sentenced former President Ollanta Humala to 15 years in prison for money laundering, marking another chapter in the country’s long-running political corruption saga.
Humala, who led Peru from 2011 to 2016, was found guilty of accepting illegal campaign funds from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht—now known as Novonor—during his 2011 presidential run. His wife, Nadine Heredia, was also handed a 15-year sentence for her involvement.
The court ruled that both knowingly accepted millions of dollars from Odebrecht to finance Humala’s campaign through their Nationalist Party. The ruling follows a three-year trial and a lengthy investigation that began in 2016.
Despite pleading not guilty and calling the charges politically motivated, Humala will begin serving his sentence immediately—even while he appeals the conviction. He’s expected to be jailed at a special police base designed to hold Peru’s growing number of former presidents behind bars.
He’ll join former leaders Alejandro Toledo and Pedro Castillo at the facility, while ex-president Alberto Fujimori was released from the same base in 2023.
This sentencing is one of the most high-profile outcomes in the massive “Lava Jato” (Car Wash) corruption investigation, which started in Brazil and exposed a vast web of bribes and political payoffs across Latin America.
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Odebrecht executives previously admitted in court that they paid millions to nearly every major political candidate in Peru over three decades. In return, the company secured lucrative government contracts throughout the region.
The case has shaken Peru’s political system to its core. Former President Alan García died by suicide in 2019 when police arrived to arrest him over similar charges, while Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned in 2018 under corruption pressure, and Toledo received a 20-year sentence last year.
With Humala’s sentencing, yet another Peruvian president joins the long list of leaders brought down by the scandal that has defined a generation of politics in the country.
