The Permanent Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence of 22 years and five months, for illicit enrichment and concussion, to former congressman Michael Urtecho Medina, and 28 years, to his wife, Claudia Gonzáles Valdivia, for illicit appropriation, embezzlement and laundering of assets.
The court’s referee ratified the sentence of Urtecho and his wife that was imposed in August of last year.
This, after confirming that Urtecho systematically cut the salaries of his congressional office workers for a total amount of almost half a million soles.
Urtecho’s wife, Claudia Gonzáles Valdivia, was sentenced for the crimes of illicit appropriation, embezzlement and money laundering, for taking advantage of the donation from the victims of the Pisco earthquake.
Gonzáles will have to pay a 365-day fine for the crime of embezzlement, which represents 13,687 soles; and 802 days fine for money laundering.
THE CASE
Urtecho, it is recalled, was denounced in 2013 by three employees of his office, who accused him of cutting their salaries by forcing them to hand over their bank account cards.
The former workers also claimed that it was the wife of the then parliamentarian who was in charge of withdrawing the money from the accounts.
Due to this case, in 2013, the then National Solidarity legislator was suspended from his duties by the Congress of the Republic for 120 days and then dismissed and disqualified from holding public office for a period of 10 years.
Urtecho and his wife, it is recalled, were sentenced in August of last year by the Special Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court.
In the case of Urtecho, the sentence was 22 years and five months in prison, while his wife was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
On that occasion, the court chaired by Víctor Prado Saldarriaga concluded that Urtecho incurred the crime of concussion to the detriment of four of his former employees and illicit enrichment to the detriment of the State.
However, both appealed, and their case went to the Permanent Criminal Chamber, which decided, this morning, to confirm the sentence given on that occasion.
