Former Peruvian president denied access to Odebrecht confessions

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Supreme Court on Saturday rejected a plea from former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, to gain access to international confessions made by former executives of Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin ruled that the contents of the Odebrecht confessions were a judicial secret and could not be shared without a prior international cooperation agreement, according to Brazilian television station Globo.

Former Odebrecht President Marcelo Odebrecht confessed that he had paid 3 million U.S. dollars for Humala's campaign in 2011.

Due to related accusations, Humala and Heredia were arrested in July 2017 and condemned to 18 months of preventive prison by a Peruvian court.

Besides Humala, two other former Peruvian presidents, Alejandro Toledo and Alan Garcia, have been accused of receiving bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for granting the Brazilian firm public contracts.

Odebrecht has admitted to the U.S. Department of Justice having paid out around 800 million U.S. dollars in bribes to 12 countries between 2001 and 2016, ten of which are in Latin America, namely, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Enditem