Peru police arrest former ‘first lady’ Keiko Fujimori on corruption charges
Prosecutors allege Keiko Fujimori led a criminal group inside her party that took US$1.2 million in illegal funds from Brazilian builder Odebrecht
Peru opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former autocrat Alberto Fujimori, was arrested as part of a far-reaching campaign financing probe, striking a fresh blow to the country’s most powerful conservative movement.
The arrest came a week after a judge revoked a pardon for Keiko’s father, a rightwing populist who ruled Peru with an iron fist from 1990-2000 and was later imprisoned for human rights crimes.
“This is called political persecution,” 43-year-old Keiko said in a handwritten letter posted on her Twitter account.
“I’ve been detained without any legal grounds.”
Keiko has led her father’s conservative movement since he fled the country in 2000 before resigning the presidency by fax from his family’s homeland of Japan.
The arrest might give centrist President Martin Vizcarra a stronger hand in working with Congress, which is controlled by Keiko’s party Popular Force.
But the fresh escalation in political tensions in one of Latin America’s most stable economies might also prompt counter-attacks by Keiko’s allies.