Peru bars former president from leaving the country by seizing his passport in corruption probe

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Former Peru president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski waives while leaving Government Palace after his resignation, in Lima on March 22, 2018. A judge banned him on March 24 from leaving the country. Photo: Handout via Reuters

Published: 2:00am, 25 Mar 2018Updated: 5:05am, 25 Mar 2018

A Peruvian judge on Saturday barred recently resigned President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski from leaving the South American nation for 18 months while he is investigated for money laundering.

The ruling came a day after congress accepted Kuczynski’s resignation and swore in vice-president Martin Vizcarra as his successor.

Kuczynski, 79, is being probed for some US$782,000 in payments his consulting firm received a decade ago from Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction giant at the heart of Latin America’s biggest-ever bribery scandal.

Authorities in Peru raided two houses owned by former president Kuczynski as part of a money laundering probe, the public prosecutor’s office said on Saturday. Both homes are in Lima, the office announced on Twitter.

Martin Vizcarra, a civil engineer and businessman, is sworn-in as the new Peruvian President, in Lima, Peru, on March 23, 2018. Vizcarra will replace Pedro Pablo Kuczynski after he resigned earlier this week. Photo: EPA-EFE

Some of the payments took place when Kuczynski was a government minister, raising questions about whether they were made in return for political favours.

The former Wall Street investor has denied any wrongdoing. He said the consulting firm, Westfield Capital, was then being managed by his business partner and that he paid taxes on all earnings from that era.