18 April 2019
Former President Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez shot himself after authorities arrived at his Lima home with a 10-day preliminary detention order against him linked to the Odebrecht bribery investigation. He was taken straight to the Casimiro Ulloa Hospital, where he died.
He was prevented from leaving the country for 18 months by a court order at the request of the prosecutor.
Former President Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez shot himself after authorities arrived at his Lima home with a 10-day preliminary detention order against him linked to the Odebrecht bribery investigation. He was taken straight to the Casimiro Ulloa Hospital, where he died.
He was prevented from leaving the country for 18 months by a court order at the request of the prosecutor.
Brazilian Odebrecht Executive Carlos Nostre told prosecutors that the company paid US$24 million to win the contract to build Lima Metro’s Line 1, without denying that part of the money could have been delivered to Alan Garcia. An investigation revealed his personal secretary, Luis Nava, had allegedly received $4m from Odebrecht’s bribery department.
García’s first term in office from 1985 to 1990 was marked by bouts of hyperinflation and severe economic downturn. Inflation reached 7,649% in 1990 and had a cumulative total of 2,200,200% over the five years, which profoundly destabilised the Peruvian economy. He lost in the 2001 election but was elected to a second term in 2006.
April 1992 Garcia handed over the presidency to Alberto Fujimori and sought asylum from Colombian then-President Cesar Gaviria. He went into exile in Colombia and later in France.
Three other past presidents have been implicated in corruption. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, in office from 2016 to 2018, resigned over a vote-buying scandal and was detained last week. Ollanta Humala was in office from 2011 to 2016. He was accused of taking bribes from Odebrecht for his election campaign. He is now in pre-trial detention in Peru. Alejandro Toledo held office from 2001 to 2006. He was accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes from Odebrecht. He is currently living in the US as a fugitive.
