A Peruvian court on Tuesday sentenced former president Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, to 15 years in prison for money laundering on Tuesday.

Humala received the funds from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht and is said to have used them to finance his 2006 and 2011 presidential campaigns, among other things.

Judges at the National Superior Court said Humala and Heredia had accepted several million dollars in illicit contributions from both Odebrecht, which was the subject of a massive corruption case that reached the very top of the Brazilian and other Latin American governments, and Venezuela's former President Hugo Chavez. 

Heredia arrived in Brazil on Wednesday, where she had requested and received diplomatic asylum, along with her son.

Humala was taken into custody in the courtroom after the verdict was read out and jailed at a police base.

A judge ordered the arrest of Heredia, after she did not attend the sentencing hearing and instead went to the Brazilian embassy in Lima.

Most of Peru's presidents jailed for corruption

Though Humala was unsuccessful in his first bid to lead the country in 2006, he won the country's top job in 2011.

Humala joins a long list of jailed former Peruvian presidents.

Last October, Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) was sentenced to 20 years and six months in jail on corruption charges and both Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018) and Martin Vizcarra (2018-2020) are currently under investigation.

Ex-President Alan Garcia (1985-1990, 2006-2011) committed suicide in 2019 when authorities arrived to arrest him on corruption charges.

Former President Pedro Castillo (2021-2022) is currently on trial for an attempted coup, and Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) was convicted of various corruption and human rights abuses. 

Odebrecht corruption scandal still making waves

The sentencing of Humala and Heredia marks the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of Odebrecht (now renamed Novonor), one of the biggest construction companies in the world. 

The company admitted in 2016 that it had doled out more than $29 million (€26 million) in bribes to Peruvian politicians alone between 2005 and 2016.

Initial investigations against Humala began in 2015, before Odebrecht's revelation rocked governments across South America.

Though Humala was the first former president to go on trial for ties to Odebrecht in 2022, other prominent politicians and former state governors are currently under investigation.

Humala and Heredia, who were convicted alongside eight other defendants, were also accused of having "concealed real estate purchases" made with some of the roughly $3 million they received in illegal funds.

The 62-year-old Humala said he would appeal the court's ruling. 

Edited by: Wesley Rahn