Vizcarra vaccination: for what crimes is the Prosecutor's Office investigating?
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(CNN Spanish) -
Prosecutor Germán Juárez, a member of the Lava Jato Special Team in Peru, requested this Friday preventive detention for 18 months for former President Martín Vizcarra, who is being investigated for the alleged crimes of aggravated collusion, improper passive bribery and illicit association to commit a crime, a source close to the case that is being handled by the Prosecutor's Office informed CNN.
Now, a judge must review the request of the Prosecutor's Office and decide whether or not to accept the prison request.
On Saturday morning in statements to local media Martín Vizcarra said “Nothing has changed in these 3 months, 4 months of investigation since we have left the Government.
There is no argument to ask for this preventive detention ”.
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The investigation into Vizcarra began after an aspiring effective collaborator declared to Juárez that the construction company Obrainsa, also investigated as part of the so-called Construction Club, made an alleged illicit payment to the president when he was governor of Moquegua between 2011 and 2014, in exchange for the latter granting the tender for a work to the construction company in Moquegua.
Fernando Ugaz, lawyer for former President Vizcarra, told CNN that they have not been notified of any prison injunction and that they found out from the press.
“The defense position is one of absolute rejection of the prison requirement.
It seems to us that the Prosecutor's Office has left its technical position and has become a political actor ”, he assured.
Ugaz pointed out that the prison order responds to the cases related to the alleged illicit payments indicated by the Prosecutor's Office, both in the case of Obrainsa and in the case of the construction company Iccgsa, to which he replied that “there is no proof of delivery of money to the former president ”.
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Martín Vizcarra.
Credit: ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP via Getty Images
On several occasions, Vizcarra has publicly denied having received any payment.
Juárez has been investigating the Construction Club since 2018, a group of companies including Odebrecht and which, according to tax theory, would have formed a cartel that distributed the award of works and paid bribes to public officials.
Odebrecht, which is an effective collaborator in this case, has acknowledged being part of these companies and has provided information regarding how this group would have functioned.
An effective collaborator is one who, being or not part of a criminal investigation or process, and away from criminal activity, provides information to the prosecution in exchange for benefits from justice.
Martín Vizcarra, current candidate for the Peruvian Congress, is the fifth president investigated by the Lava Jato Special Team of the Prosecutor's Office.
Martin Vizcarra