Development: On 19 August Peru’s prime minister, Juan José Jiménez Mayor, said that any state contracts awarded to a company owned by Alexis Humala, President Ollanta Humala’s younger brother, will be investigated and that any public officials who may have favoured the firm in tender processes will be “sanctioned”.
Significance: Jiménez Mayor’s remarks came after an investigative report, aired by the local TV show Panorama, revealed that an imports/exports firm, Krasny del Perú, which is part-owned by Alexis, has won a number of state tenders since 2011, despite the fact that Peruvian law forbids relatives (up to four degrees of kinship) of public officials from bidding for state contracts. These are not the first corruption accusations levied against the Humala government in relation to Alexis and possible influence-trafficking, and the administration is keen to address them quickly to limit their damage.
Key points:
• The report held that Krasny del Perú, in which Alexis, the firm’s public relations manager, has a 25% stake, has won numerous tenders to supply goods to the interior, education, defence, justice and health ministries, as well as the council of ministers. The majority of these were contracts awarded by the health ministry and amounted to over PEN1m (US$328,117.00).
• Article 10 of Peru’s state contracts law states that “Any person who has a fourth degree of consanguinity, or second degree of affinity, to the President, ministers or other high-ranking state officials is barred from participating in state tender processes”.
• Before President Humala took office in 2011, Alexis was already involved in a scandal - he allegedly introduced himself as a representative of his brother’s government in Russia to discuss bilateral business deals. In the report, Panorama said that it could not reach Alexis because Krasny said he was away on a business trip to Moscow.
• Jiménez Mayor announced the launch of an immediate investigation. Acknowledging the existence of the relevant legislation, Jiménez Mayor said “these kinds of things cannot happen. No one has special privileges in Peru… we will be very severe in imposing sanctions on officials who may have participated in these kinds of operations”. He also stressed that “all ministers have instructions not to receive any member of President Humala’s family”.
