Lima: Former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has been released from prison after Peru’s Constitutional Court overturned his 15-year prison sentence in a landmark ruling tied to the sprawling Odebrecht corruption scandal.
The Constitutional Court declared the entire criminal proceedings against Humala null and void, ruling that he had been convicted for conduct that was not legally classified as money laundering at the time the alleged campaign contributions were received.
Humala, 64, had been serving his sentence at a special detention facility in eastern Lima that houses several jailed former Peruvian presidents. The former army officer, who served as Peru’s president from 2011 to 2016, was convicted last year alongside his wife, Nadine Heredia, for laundering illegal campaign funds allegedly received from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, now known as Novonor, and the Venezuelan government during two presidential campaigns.
Heredia was granted political asylum in Brazil following the conviction. In its ruling dated July 15, the Constitutional Court stated that the criminal case against Humala should be annulled in its entirety. The decision followed a habeas corpus petition filed by the former president, arguing that his imprisonment was unlawful.
The court found that the legal basis for the conviction was flawed because the alleged acts were not defined as money laundering under Peruvian law when the campaign contributions were made. As a result, the court ruled in Humala’s favour and ordered his release.
Humala’s lawyer, Wilfredo Pedraza, welcomed the verdict, saying the legal team received the judgment with ‘considerable satisfaction.’ Humala became the first former Peruvian president to stand trial in connection with the Odebrecht corruption scandal, one of the largest bribery schemes in Latin American history. The scandal has implicated several high-profile political leaders across the region, including three other former presidents of Peru.
In 2016, Odebrecht admitted to paying approximately $788 million in bribes to government officials and political figures across multiple countries in exchange for lucrative infrastructure contracts. The company agreed to pay $3.5 billion in penalties as part of a global settlement.
According to investigators, Odebrecht paid at least $29 million in bribes to Peruvian officials between 2005 and 2014, making Peru one of the countries most deeply affected by the corruption network. Humala’s release marks another significant chapter in Peru’s long-running political and judicial battles over the Odebrecht scandal, which continues to reshape the country’s political landscape.
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