To prevent interested groups in Congress from modifying the Effective Collaboration Law in order to favor their political leaders investigated for organized crime and other crimes, prosecutor José Domingo Pérez stated that the Judiciary must advance the oral trial of Keiko Fujimori and other leaders of Fuerza Popular.
With this objective, to guarantee the progress of the process, the prosecutor Pérez has requested Judge Víctor Zúñiga Urday that the former president of Odebrecht Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht and the former representative of the construction company in Peru Jorge Barata testify at the trial stage.
During the investigation period of the case, Odebrecht, Barata and other former high-ranking employees of the Brazilian company confirmed that the company gave US$1 million to Keiko Fujimori’s presidential campaign in 2011.
Pérez pointed out that the ruling recently approved by the Congressional Justice Commission to modify the Effective Collaboration Law could have adverse effects on ongoing processes, such as the one against Keiko Fujimori.
Congressmen from Fuerza Popular and Perú Libre, represented in the Justice Commission, approved reforms to the Collaboration Law, which benefits their leaders Keiko Fujimori and Vladimir Cerrón, respectively, investigated for organized crime and money laundering.
For this reason, the prosecutor considered it necessary to obtain in advance new statements from Odebrecht and Barata, among others, and thus ensure the trial of another 40 accused of Fuerza Popular.
If the statements of Odebrecht, Barata and others are obtained, the changes that Congress intends to apply to the Effective Collaboration Law would not be detrimental to the trial of Keiko Fujimori and her co-defendants.
If Judge Víctor Zúñiga Urday approves the request of the prosecutor José Domingo Pérez, it will be feasible to bring forward the trial of Keiko Fujimori and her accomplices.
“All these legislative initiatives (to change the Effective Collaboration Law) are seeking to generate uncertainty in the development of criminal proceedings. Let us remember that Jorge Barata is an effective collaborator, and the legal entity Odebrecht is also subject to effective collaboration. The recent legislative initiatives could represent a certain risk in the main stage of this criminal process, which would be the trial,” warned prosecutor José Domingo Pérez.
“Then, it is these factors that force the Prosecutor’s Office —if the judge considers it pertinent— to act in advance. There are antecedents, such as the Josef Maiman case. Maiman passed away, but what he declared is already proof whose validity will no longer be discussed, because action has already been taken. Another case is that of Gil Shavit, from the Costanera del Callao case,” informed prosecutor Pérez.
“We are practically reaching the culmination of the criminal process. That is to say, we are advancing the oral trial. If the judge grants us that request, I hope there will be no opposition and this process will be concluded in all its stages,” he said.
In the judicial process followed against Ollanta Humala and Nadine Heredia, the Prosecutor’s Office has already requested the judge of the case through international judicial cooperation the declaration of the former Odebrecht officials.
“The objective of the Prosecutor’s Office is that, if the judge supports the request for the statements of former Odebrecht officials in the Humala and Heredia case, then Marcelo Odebrecht and Jorge Barata also testify in the Keiko Fujimori case,” the prosecutor said. Perez.
José Domingo Pérez considers that the conditions are in place for Judge Víctor Zúñiga Urday to agree to the request for early evidence.
“We are in a case of organized crime. We are in a process whose intermediate stage is demanded more than the reasonable term. Next month we will be one year old. Therefore, it is feasible that early evidence can be accessed, especially in the face of the possibility of a procedural danger, “said prosecutor Pérez.
