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Student Edition: Weekly Report - 13 June 2019
PERU: The beast caged over Odebrecht bribery
Such was the nefarious nature of the government run by César Álvarez Aguilar in Peru’s north-western region of Áncash (2007-2014) that the corruption for which he was convicted this week was a minor misdemeanour by comparison. Álvarez, known as ‘La Bestia’, faces charges of homicide and running a corrupt criminal network, wiretapping opponents, and perverting the course of justice. But he is most likely to be remembered for the sentence of eight years and three months he received on 11 June. Because with this Álvarez became the first Peruvian to be sentenced in relation to the mega bribery scandal involving the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht that has rocked Peru’s political establishment for the last two years, with four former presidents and the leader of the main opposition Fuerza Popular (FP, Fujimoristas) accused of taking Odebrecht cash.