The time has come. Another former Peruvian president is one step away from being convicted of corruption. The Fourth Collegiate Court of the National Superior Court will decide this morning from whether Martin Vizcarra He is guilty of having received bribes of 2.3 million soles from two construction companies when he served as regional governor of Moquegua.
See the reading of the sentence here:
There were calls between Obrainsa and Vizcarra.
The magistrate points out that a report has been recorded containing telephone calls between Obrainsa and the company CyM Vizcarra. “In effect there were telephone communications between the accused Martín Vizcarra and Elard Paul Tejeda,” said the judge.
Judge draws attention
During the reading of the sentence, the judge called on those present not to talk in the courtroom, given that they interrupt the proper development of the hearing.
The reading of the sentence begins
The Fourth Collegiate Criminal Court – National Superior Court began the hearing to read the sentence against former president Martín Vizcarra. The former president is present in the room along with his lawyer, as well as the prosecutor Germán Juárez Atoche and the coordinator of the Lava Jato Special Team, Rafael Vela, among others.
Martín Vizcarra arrives at the Judiciary
Former President Martín Vizcarra arrived at the headquarters of the Judiciary, where he will hear the reading of the sentence against him for his own passive bribery. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of having received S/ 2.3 million in bribes when he was regional governor of Moquegua.
Although the Prosecutor’s Office presented throughout the oral trial testimonies from effective collaborators and the managers of the companies involved, call records, emails, documents, invoices and even checks that would prove that he did receive bribes, the former president reiterated that he is innocent and has assured, in the midst of the fiscal doubt, that he will be present at the reading of his sentence. “I am not going to disappoint the people, I am a man of my word,” he said yesterday in an interview.
According to the tax thesis, Vizcarra demanded 2% of the cost of the Lomas de Ilo project (approximately S/1’016,212.76), in exchange for facilitating the good deal to the Obrainsa company.
To do this, he negotiated with Elard Tejeda, former commercial manager of this construction company, whom, according to the Public Ministry, he asked to bid below S/81 million, which finally happened. The delivery of money was confirmed by Obrainsa directors.
Moquegua Hospital
For the work of the Moquegua Hospital, the Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the then regional governor received S/1.3 million from the construction company ICCGSA. The bribes were made through payments arranged with José Manuel Hernández, a man close to Vizcarra and, later, his former minister.
As in the other work, the bribe was confirmed by ICCGSA in this case. Even one of its directors, Rafael Granados, assured that eight deliveries of money were made, in cash (in 100 and 200 sole bills), some of these in Vizcarra’s own office.
According to the businessman’s testimony, he assured that Vizcarra made him a request to give him S/1 million 300 thousand so that the good offer could be approved, a condition that they accepted so as not to lose the project. The money exchange was done through José Manuel Hernández.
“I gave the amount to Granados and Granados had to consult with the consortium and Granados accepted, I called Vizcarra again and he asked him that he wanted to speak with Jordan. There were three payments,” Hernández indicated as a testimony.
The Prosecutor’s Office has requested that an effective prison sentence of 15 years be imposed on Vizcarra for the crime of passive bribery (6 years for the Lomas de Ilo project and another 9 years for the Moquegua Hospital) and disqualify him from holding public office for nine years.
Martín Vizcarra could join today Alberto Fujimori, Alejandro Toledo and Ollanta Humala, former Peruvian presidents sentenced for corruption. The last two are currently serving time in the Barbadillo prison. For the Prosecutor’s Office, the former president smells like a prisoner. It now depends on the Judiciary.
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