Peru presidential candidate denies money laundering

LIMA, Peru – Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori denied a news report that raised questions about whether she was involved in money laundering.

The local America television network and U.S.-based Univision broadcast a report Sunday night suggesting the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating a member of Fujimori’s party for money laundering. The allegations come just weeks before the presidential runoff election.

The report said the agency was looking at whether Joaquin Ramirez of Fujimori’s Fuerza Popular party laundered $15 million for the candidate during a previous election.

Fujimori denied that she was involved with any money laundering, and said it was other party officials who handled her campaign funding. Ramirez also denied wrongdoing.

The DEA did not directly address the news report’s contention that Ramirez is under investigation, but it stressed that it is not investigating the candidate.

“Keiko Fujimori is not currently, nor has been previously, under investigation by DEA,” the agency said in a terse statement issued Monday.

Fujimori has struggled to cast off the legacy of her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, who is in a Peruvian prison serving a 25-year sentence for authorizing death squads and corruption during his decade-long rule in the 1990s.

Keiko Fujimori easily came out on top in the initial round of Peru’s presidential election April 10. She is facing the No. 2 finisher, former World Bank economist Pedro Kuczynski, in a runoff on June 5. Polling indicates the two are in a dead heat.