Former Peruvian president Martín Vizcarra has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after a court determined that he accepted bribes while serving as governor of the Moquegua region in southern Peru between 2011 and 2014. The November 26 ruling found that he solicited illicit payments from construction companies in exchange for the approval of major public works contracts. The sentence took immediate effect, and Vizcarra was taken into custody moments after the verdict was read.

Vizcarra, who became president in 2018 after Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned over an Odebrecht-related scandal and who entered office promising to clean up entrenched corruption, was removed in 2020 after Congress accused him of misconduct in unrelated cases. His conviction now adds to a long sequence of corruption scandals that have destabilised Peru’s political system for more than a decade, with nearly every recent president investigated or jailed.

The Fourth National Criminal Court found Vizcarra guilty of aggravated passive bribery in relation to two projects: the Lomas de Ilo irrigation system, valued at PEN80.9mn ($21.8mn), and the expansion of a regional hospital in Moquegua. 

Judge Fernanda Ayasta, speaking for the court, stated that evidence presented during the trial demonstrated a systematic scheme in which companies were asked to pay percentages of project budgets in exchange for favourable treatment. Suspicion centred on the governor’s power to sign or withhold final contracts, a step that remained under regional authority even when the United Nations Office for Project Services was involved in organising parts of the bidding process.

Six cooperating witnesses testified that in November 2013 Vizcarra met with executives from Obrainsa, a major construction firm, and requested 2% of the Lomas de Ilo project budget as an illicit payment. The testimony described two meetings in which the governor allegedly offered insider information and guarantees of contract approval in exchange for PEN1mn ($270,000). 

The court considered these accounts credible because they were supported by phone records, witness sightings and inconsistencies in Vizcarra’s official agenda: he claimed to have been travelling outside Lima on the dates in question, but this was not supported by documentation.

Financial transfers from Obrainsa were made in two instalments: PEN600,000 ($162,000) in January 2014 and PEN400,000 ($108,000) in April of the same year. A technical assessment introduced at trial showed that these amounts could fit into A3 manila envelopes similar to those described by the collaborating witnesses. The court also identified an aircraft rental paid by the company for Vizcarra’s benefit, which it classified as an additional improper advantage.

The second case examined involved ICCGSA, another construction company, and the Moquegua Regional Hospital expansion. The court concluded that ICCGSA agreed to pay PEN1.3mn (351,000) through an intermediary, former minister José Manuel Hernández. 

The prosecution traced these payments through simulated services linked to a private firm, Mzarq. Statements from ICCGSA personnel were reinforced by emails, procurement documents and call records that, according to the judges, aligned with the broader pattern observed in the Lomas de Ilo project.

The court pointed out that the conviction rested on the overall convergence of evidence, not on the testimony of any single cooperating witness. Judge Ayasta noted that the defence had failed to demonstrate political animosity or coordination among the collaborators that would undermine their credibility. Instead, the court found that witness accounts matched independently verifiable phone data, transactional records and factual discrepancies in the defendant’s explanations.

After the decision was read, police escorted Vizcarra out of the courtroom and transferred him to the Barbadillo prison in Lima, a facility where several other former Peruvian presidents are also held. He arrived late on the night of November 26 after undergoing standard medical and administrative procedures.

The prosecution welcomed the decision. Provincial prosecutor Germán Juárez told El Comercio that the ruling validated the work of the Lava Jato Special Team, which has led multiple high-profile corruption investigations in the country. Vizcarra’s legal team announced it would appeal, arguing that the judgment placed disproportionate weight on the testimony of cooperating witnesses.

During the sentencing, Vizcarra posted a message on X claiming the ruling was politically motivated and stating that his brother would assume public political roles on his behalf. The court, however, limited its analysis strictly to evidence from procurement processes during his period as governor of Moquegua and concluded that the conduct constituted criminal bribery.