LIMA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski denied on Wednesday having received money from Brazilian construction giant, Odebrecht, to finance his 2011 and 2016 presidential campaigns.
"I received no support of any kind from the company in neither of my two electoral campaigns, neither in 2010-2011 with the Alliance for Great Change, nor in 2015-2016 with Peruvians For Change, as shows the documentation in the hands of the electoral authorities of Peru," he said in an address to the country.
Kuczynski also denied an allegation that he was hired as a consultant by Odebrecht when he stepped down as prime minister and economy minister while former President Alejandro Toledo was in power.
This runs counter to accusations made by former Odebrecht president Marcelo Odebrecht, who told Peruvian investigators that his firm hired Kuczynski as a consultant in 2006, the Peruvian press reported on Tuesday.
According to data provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Odebrecht paid 29 million U.S. dollars to Peruvian leaders and presidential candidates from 2006 to 2014, in order to be awarded major infrastructure contracts.
The Odebrecht corruption scandal in Peru has caused former President Ollanta Humala to receive a preventive jail term of 18 months, and made Toledo a fugitive from justice now living in the United States.
