How the Trial Against Keiko Fujimori Was Annulled

Contents

Table of findings
The “Cócteles” case — financing of the 2011 campaign
The “Cócteles” case — financing of the 2016 campaign
Preliminary detention and pretrial detention (2018-2019)
Trial and the prosecution’s indictment (2024-2025)
Trial annulled by the Constitutional Court (October 2025)
Definitive dismissal of the case (January 2026)
Unsubstantiated electoral fraud claim (2021)
Appointment of people formerly under investigation to her government (September 2026)
Clash with the Judiciary over her UN speech (September 2026)
Annex: open investigations without indictment or judgment
Investigation into contributions to the 2021 campaign
The Alas Peruanas case
Illicit enrichment investigation (2026)
Sources

Keiko Fujimori Higuchi took office as president of Peru on July 28, 2026, after winning the runoff by a margin of just 49,641 votes over Roberto Sánchez. It was her fourth presidential bid. She comes to office with 69 prosecutorial investigations on her record —51 closed, 18 ongoing—, almost all of them stemming from the “Cócteles” case: the investigation into the irregular financing of her 2011 and 2016 campaigns, which includes acknowledged contributions from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. This file reviews the documented findings about her political career.

Table of findings

N	Finding	Detail	Status
1	“Cócteles” case — 2011 campaign	Simulated donations originating from corporate executives and Odebrecht (US$1 million) funneled through “cocktail parties” and raffle events	Partially acknowledged by Fuerza Popular’s legal counsel
2	“Cócteles” case — 2016 campaign	Unreported funds, featuring US$480,000 gathered by José Chlimper	Probed by the Prosecutor’s Office; lacking a definitive ruling
3	Pretrial detention (2018-2019)	Surpassing 13 months behind bars owing to potential obstruction of the inquiry	Validated — judicial mandate executed
4	Trial (2024-2025)	Charged with criminal organization, money laundering, obstruction, and false statement; prosecutors requested a 30-year and 10-month prison sentence	Proceedings conducted; devoid of a substantive conviction
5	Trial annulled by the TC (Oct. 2025)	The Constitutional Court voided the proceedings citing procedural flaws tied to the Prosecutor’s Office	Validated — TC decision
6	Definitive dismissal (Jan. 2026)	The TC mandated the dropping of money laundering and criminal organization counts regarding the 2011 and 2016 donations	Validated — TC decision
7	Unsubstantiated electoral fraud claim (2021)	Following her runoff defeat, she advanced the “electoral fraud” thesis and attempted to invalidate ballots	Dismissed — the OAS and the EU deemed the ballot clean
8	Appointment of people formerly under investigation to her government (Sept. 2026)	She designated Jaime Yoshiyama, José Chlimper, and Arsenio Oré —investigated in the “Cócteles” matter— to a presidential advisory panel	Corroborated by media coverage
9	Clash with the Judiciary over her UN speech (Sept. 2026)	During the General Assembly, she challenged ongoing legal actions against service members involved in counter-terrorism efforts; the head of the Judiciary pushed back against her remarks	Corroborated — her personal public address

The “Cócteles” case — financing of the 2011 campaign

Back in September 2011, the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) documented that Fuerza Popular (known at the time as Fuerza 2011) reported earnings exceeding S/17 million for that presidential race, alongside a high volume of transfers from unknown sources. The political organization accounted for a fraction of those funds through two gatherings: a December 2010 cocktail event that allegedly brought in roughly US$119,750, and a second one held that same month totaling around US$90,000. Ever since 2014, the Prosecutor’s Office has argued that such raffles and cocktail receptions could not have financed a campaign on that scale, suggesting they actually concealed a ring of “simulated contributors” or “pitufeo” (smurfing)—namely, entrepreneurs who lent their identities to disguise the true source of the cash. El Comercio noted that the legal team representing Fuerza Popular admitted during court proceedings that fictitious donors were indeed utilized, while firmly rejecting the notion that these actions amounted to money laundering.

Among the contributors identified are Dionisio Romero (Credicorp), with about US$3.65 million, and Juan Rassmuss (Sudamericana de Fibras), according to Resumen Latinoamericano. In February 2019, Jorge Barata, Odebrecht’s former representative in Peru, told Peruvian prosecutors that the Brazilian construction company contributed US$1.2 million to the 2011 campaign through Jaime Yoshiyama, according to RPP. Marcelo Odebrecht’s notebook, made public in 2017, also included a note about “increase Keiko,” cited by El Comercio.

The “Cócteles” case — financing of the 2016 campaign

The same investigation was extended to the 2016 presidential campaign, in which Fujimori lost the runoff to Pedro Pablo Kuczynski by a razor-thin margin. According to Resumen Latinoamericano, in 2016 José Chlimper Ackerman, then secretary general of Fuerza Popular, reportedly collected US$480,000 in five deliveries, money whose final destination was not established in the prosecutors’ case file. A 2018 report by the Money Laundering Prosecutor’s Office concluded that the party was able to account for only 33% of the money raised across both campaigns.

The Prosecutor’s Office, with prosecutor José Domingo Pérez in charge, maintains that Fujimori and the Fuerza Popular leadership used the same mechanism of simulated contributors in 2016 to conceal the origin of the funds, as reconstructed by El Comercio. Among those summoned to testify was former congressman Rolando Reátegui, who entered into a cooperation agreement (colaboración eficaz) and described how he recruited fake contributors in the San Martín region at the request of the party leadership, according to Epicentro.

Preliminary detention and pretrial detention (2018-2019)

In October 2018, Fujimori was held in preliminary custody for a ten-day period as the Prosecutor’s Office examined suspected money laundering tied to the cocktail fundraisers and raffles organized by Fuerza 2011, as reported by Al Jazeera. Several months afterward, magistrate Richard Concepción Carhuancho approved a request from prosecutors for pretrial detention citing potential obstruction of the probe, leaving Fujimori detained at the Anexo de Mujeres facility in Chorrillos for upwards of 13 months, according to La República. Prosecutors maintained at the time that Fujimori “directs, leads and coordinates” the operations of a criminal organization inside her political group. This decision was subsequently reassessed, allowing Fujimori to secure her release, even though she stayed bound by several limitations (comparecencia, a travel prohibition) while the legal proceedings progressed.

Trial and the prosecution’s indictment (2024-2025)

The “Cócteles” trial got under way on July 1, 2024, with Fujimori, her former partner Mark Vito Villanella and 44 other people as defendants, according to Infobae. She stood accused of criminal organization, money laundering, obstruction of justice and false statement in an administrative proceeding. As El Comercio reports, the indictment review stage that preceded the trial lasted one year and nine months under judge Zúñiga, with more than 13,000 pages in the prosecutors’ file; prosecutors, the outlet adds, asked for 30 years and 10 months in prison for ex-advisers Pier Figari and Ana Herz, and for 22 years and 8 months for Vito Villanella.

According to the same case file, a protected witness stated that Figari and Herz received money from businesspeople who did not want to appear on the official list of contributors to the 2011 campaign. Fujimori’s defense, for its part, maintained throughout the proceedings that the Prosecutor’s Office would not be able to prove the crime of money laundering.

Trial annulled by the Constitutional Court (October 2025)

In October 2025, while the trial was still under way, the Constitutional Court (TC) annulled the proceedings that had begun in 2024. As reported by La Válvula, the TC found that the Prosecutor’s Office had made multiple amendments to its indictment that undermined the defendants’ right to due process. The ruling did not address whether or not the irregular financing took place, but rather procedural defects attributed to the Public Prosecutor’s Office over the years of the investigation.

Definitive dismissal of the case (January 2026)

As La Válvula reported, in January 2026 the Constitutional Court ordered that the charges of money laundering and criminal organization tied to the contributions to the 2011 and 2016 campaigns be dismissed. The court’s reasoning, as El Comercio reconstructs it, rested on two points: when the investigated events occurred (2011 and 2016), irregular party financing did not exist as a standalone crime —that offense only came into force in 2019— and no criminal organization within the party had been proven. Earlier, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had benefited from that same procedural path, and his case over Odebrecht contributions was likewise dismissed in 2026; this led Ollanta Humala, convicted for similar acts and still behind bars, to complain publicly.

This dismissal closes, at least in the criminal courts, the legal front that dominated Fujimori’s political career for more than a decade.

Unsubstantiated electoral fraud claim (2021)

After losing the 2021 runoff to Pedro Castillo by a margin of 0.25 percentage points, Fujimori initially refused to recognize the result, alleged fraud and filed hundreds of requests to annul tally sheets and votes, according to Wikipedia. The National Elections Jury (JNE) rejected those challenges and proclaimed Castillo the winner on July 19, 2021; only then did Fujimori announce that she would abide by the result.

As La Válvula reported, international electoral observers —the Organization of American States and the European Union among them— found the election to have been clean and competitive. No documented irregularity backed the fraud allegation at a scale that could have overturned the result.

Appointment of people formerly under investigation to her government (September 2026)

On September 16, 2026, now serving as president, Fujimori appointed Jaime Yoshiyama Tanaka, José Chlimper Ackerman and Arsenio Oré to an Advisory Commission of the Presidential Office, as reported by La República. Yoshiyama was singled out by the Prosecutor’s Office as the individual who, based on Jorge Barata’s statements, accepted and hid Odebrecht contributions for the 2011 campaign; meanwhile, Chlimper, who held the position of party secretary general back then, was investigated for the same offenses attributed to Fujimori (criminal organization, money laundering, false statement and generic falsification). Both figures had previously served as ministers in the administration of Alberto Fujimori.

Since the case was dismissed in January 2026, none of the three is facing pending charges in the “Cócteles” case anymore; even so, the appointment reopened questions about how close the president is to the circle singled out in the case that marked her career.

Clash with the Judiciary over her UN speech (September 2026)

On September 22, 2026, before the United Nations General Assembly, Fujimori stated: “we defeated terrorism, but unfortunately even today, after 34 years, those who took on that mission are still being prosecuted, despite it having been shown that due process was violated,” according to Infobae. The president of the Judiciary, Janet Tello, “completely” rejected those words, and recalled that judges were also murdered in the fight against terrorism and that it was judges who convicted Abimael Guzmán.

Instead of backing down, Fujimori responded that she would not “stay silent” about “the mistakes of the past,” as reported by Infobae. This event served as the initial public clash involving her administration and the leader of the Judiciary.

Annex: open investigations without indictment or judgment

These pending inquiries remain unresolved, having yielded neither formal charges nor judicial verdicts thus far. Rather than established truths, they are documented simply as background within her legal history. Ever since she assumed power, Article 117 of the Constitution has served to restrict how these ongoing probes can advance while she remains in office, as reported by Gestión.

Investigation into contributions to the 2021 campaign

On September 30, 2025, the First Supraprovincial Corporate Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Money Laundering Crimes formally launched a preparatory investigation targeting Fujimori, Luis Galarreta, Miguel Torres, Lidman Miranda, alongside the political party Fuerza Popular as a corporate entity, alleging they formed a criminal organization to launder assets via donations tied to the 2021 election campaign, as reported by RPP. The timeframe spans 36 months, and magistrate Wilson Verástegui mandated merely simple appearance (comparecencia simple).

The prosecution’s case, Infobae reported, rests on false donations whose origin was not declared, on the use of S/1.6 million in public funding for campaign ends, and on S/1,258,708 raised from July 9 to 30, 2021, to contest Pedro Castillo’s win. Several of the people listed as donors have denied making those contributions. Neither an indictment nor a judgment exists.

The Alas Peruanas case

As part of a probe distinct from the “Cócteles” inquiry, the Public Prosecutor’s Office attributes to Fujimori and her ex-advisor Pier Figari the alleged commission of aggravated money laundering, utilizing funds allegedly originating from Universidad Alas Peruanas as well as the organization attributed to its founder, Fidel Ramírez, who is the father of former Fuerza Popular secretary general Joaquín Ramírez. According to La República, the prosecution’s hypothesis encompasses S/210,000 obtained in 2011, S/54,536 spanning 2014 and 2015, alongside a pair of real estate conveyances in Lima.

Fuerza Popular was added to the case as a legal entity by the Fourth National Preparatory Investigation Court on April 30, 2025. However, Gestión later reported that an appeals chamber found that inclusion unlawful and excluded the party from the proceedings. The case against the individuals is still open, and there is no indictment.

Illicit enrichment investigation (2026)

On February 4, 2026, weeks after the “Cócteles” case was dismissed, it emerged that the First Provincial Corporate Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Public Corruption Crimes of Lima had opened an investigation into Fujimori for illicit enrichment, according to Infobae. The focus is the US$3.6 million in cash that Dionisio Romero allegedly handed her between November 2010 and May 2011; the Prosecutor’s Office notes that her 2010 and 2011 sworn asset declarations as a member of Congress barely changed despite those funds.

Unlike the dismissed case, which centered on party financing, this investigation examines her personal assets. It was classified as complex, with an initial term of eight months. There is no indictment.