LIMA – Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of the former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, has been arrested over charges of money laundering and accepting illegal campaign financing.
Mrs. Fujimori, who is head of Peru’s opposition Popular Force party, was shown on television on Wednesday in a car in handcuffs after being detained along with her husband.
They would be held initially for 10 days along with 19 other suspects, including ex-ministers Jaime Yoshiyama and Augusto Bedoya Camare.
According to Judge Richard Concepcion, Fujimori’s party created 114 people as contributors to cover up an illicit contribution which amounts to nearly 650,000 U.S. dollars for the 2011 presidential campaign.
The charges released Wednesday said Fujimori “created a criminal organization within the political party (Popular Force),” which aimed to obtain political power among other things and as a consequence has interfered with legislative and judicial affairs.
Disgraced Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht allegedly contributed to Fujimori’s campaign. Company executives have admitted to running a multinational bribery scheme to win lucrative government public works contracts.
Mrs. Fujimori denies any wrong-doing.
Earlier this year, former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned in a scandal linked to the Odebrecht case.
In a letter published on social media after her arrest, Mrs. Fujimori said she was being politically persecuted. “This is called political persecution.” she said, “I’ve been detained without legal grounds.”
p. Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi pic.twitter.com/AwSQPQiUmK
— Keiko Fujimori (@KeikoFujimori) October 10, 2018
Her Fuerza Popular party has been a powerful opposition force and it currently controls Congress.
The arrest came a week after her father had a presidential pardon revoked by a judge.
Alberto Fujimori is expected to return to jail to continue serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses.
‘Please don’t kill me,’ Ex-Peruvian president Fujimori pleads for his life in video message
