The United States Drug Enforcement Agency clarified on Monday that it is not investigating Peru’s presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori for money laundering.
The agency released the statement after press reports that the DEA was investigating Popular Force chairman and congressman Joaquin Ramirez, who is also Fujimori’s top campaign adviser, an accusation neither acknowledged or denied in the statement.
“Keiko Fujimori is not currently, nor has been previously, under investigation by DEA,” reads the brief statement issued by the DEA on Monday.
On Sunday night Univision and America Television reported that the DEA is investigating Popular Force chairman Joaquin Ramirez for allegedly laundering $15 million for presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori.
Peruvian pilot and DEA informant Jesus Vasquez told both media outlets that he recorded Ramirez saying that he had laundered the money for Fujimori via a chain of gas stations. DEA spokeswoman Anne Judith Lambert confirmed to Univision that there was an open investigation.
Vasquez was moved to speak out in order to prevent Keiko Fujimori from being elected president.
Ramirez denied the charges and said that he would press charges against Vasquez for extortion.
Fujimori denied the story as well and vowed to request an official report from the DEA. She also suggested that a “dirty war” led by her opponent, Pedro Pablo Kuczynksi, was behind the story.
Sources
Peru presidential candidate denies money laundering (Associated Press)
