Peruvian prosecutors seize ex-president's properties, bank accounts

Peruvian prosecutors on Monday seized five properties and bank accounts belonging to former president Ollanta Humala, who was given until the end of the day to vacate his primary residence in Lima, his lawyers and prosecutors said. Police surrounded the former president's house in Lima's Surco neighborhood, while prosecutors notified him that his properties were being seized as part of a corruption investigation. The properties were "presumed to have been acquired with illicit monies," said a statement explaining the action by the prosecutor in charge of money-laundering investigations. A court order also authorized the seizure of Humala's bank accounts, it said. Humala, who was president of Peru from 2011 to 2016, is being investigated for $3 million in campaign contributions he is alleged to have received from Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction giant at the center of region-wide bribe scandals. He and his wife and children were given until 10 pm local time (0300 GMT Tuesday) to vacate their home in Lima, his lawyer, Cesar Nakazaki, said. The action came just a week after Humala and his wife Nadine Heredia were released from jail after being held for nine months. The country's Constitutional Court ruled that the couple, who have three young children, could remain at liberty pending trial. "Contributions to a campaign is not a crime," Humala said Sunday in an interview with America Television. "What they want to do is criminalize campaign contributions." A 55-year-old retired lieutenant colonel, Humala is one of four former Peruvian presidents under investigation over payments made by Odebrecht, but so far he is the only one to have gone to jail. The others are Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), Alan García (2006-2011) and Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), who is fighting a request for his extradition from the United States. Also under investigation is opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), who served 12 years of a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses. Kuczynski pardoned the elderly Fujimori for humanitarian reasons in December, setting off a scandal that ultimately led to his resignation.