Following a runoff victory over Roberto Sánchez by a narrow margin of merely 49,641 votes, Keiko Fujimori Higuchi assumed the presidency of Peru on July 28, 2026. This marked her fourth run for the nation’s highest office. She enters the presidency carrying 69 prosecutorial investigations in her background—with 51 now closed and 18 still active—the vast majority originating from the “Cócteles” inquiry, which examines irregular funding surrounding her 2011 and 2016 electoral campaigns and encompasses admitted donations from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. The established findings concerning her political trajectory are examined in this dossier.
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 |
1. The “Cócteles” case — financing of the 2011 campaign
In September 2011, the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) documented that Fuerza Popular (known at the time as Fuerza 2011) reported earnings surpassing S/17 million for that presidential race, featuring a significant amount of transfers from unknown sources. The political organization accounted for a portion of that sum through a pair of gatherings: a cocktail reception in December 2010 that allegedly brought in roughly US$119,750 alongside a second event that same month valued at approximately US$90,000. Ever since 2014, the Prosecutor’s Office has argued that such fundraisers and sweepstakes could not have financed an operation of that magnitude, contending they actually concealed a ring of “simulated contributors,” commonly referred to as “pitufeo” (smurfing)—namely, entrepreneurs who lent their identities to mask the genuine source of the funds. El Comercio reported that Fuerza Popular’s legal team admitted during the trial to the existence of these fictitious donors, while nevertheless rejecting the claim that such 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.
2. The “Cócteles” case — financing of the 2016 campaign
The same inquiry carried over into the 2016 presidential race, where Fujimori was narrowly defeated by Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in the runoff vote. As reported by Resumen Latinoamericano, during 2016 José Chlimper Ackerman, who served at the time as the general secretary of Fuerza Popular, allegedly gathered US$480,000 across five installments—funds whose ultimate whereabouts remained undocumented within the investigative records of the prosecution. An assessment issued in 2018 by the Money Laundering Prosecutor’s Office revealed that the political organization could only justify 33% of the total funds accumulated throughout both electoral contests.
According to reconstructions by El Comercio, the Prosecutor’s Office—led by prosecutor José Domingo Pérez—asserts that Fujimori and the Fuerza Popular hierarchy relied on the same scheme of fictitious donors back in 2016 to disguise where the money came from. Meanwhile, Epicentro reports that former legislator Rolando Reátegui was among the witnesses called to the stand; having entered into a cooperation agreement (colaboración eficaz), he detailed instructions from party leaders directing him to enlist bogus contributors throughout the San Martín area.
3. Preliminary detention and pretrial detention (2018-2019)
Fujimori was held under preliminary detention for ten days in October 2018, as prosecutors looked into alleged money laundering tied to the cocktail parties and raffles of Fuerza 2011, Al Jazeera reported. Months later, the prosecutors’ request for pretrial detention over the risk of obstruction of the investigation was granted by judge Richard Concepción Carhuancho; as a result, Fujimori spent more than 13 months in custody at the Anexo de Mujeres prison in Chorrillos, La República reported. In the prosecution’s theory at that time, Fujimori “directs, leads and coordinates” the activities of a crimina