Peru's Kuczynski faces further political Odebrecht headaches

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczysnki (pictured), who narrowly avoided being impeached in December, is gearing up for round two as congress prepares to take a fresh look at a possible ouster.

Kuczysnki, who was forced to defend himself from accusations that scandal-plagued construction firm Odebrecht hired his investment funds while he was a government official a decade ago, now faces accusations of receiving contributions from Odebrecht during the 2011 election campaign. He denied any wrongdoing.

A total of 30 legislators from five political parties backed a motion to hold a new impeachment vote. The 130-member congress is now expected to debate next week whether to hold the vote, which could come at the end of the month. Congress needs 87 votes to force impeachment.

"We're making Peru look ridiculous. I'm going to defend myself and I'm not going to resign," Kuczynski told reporters. "If I die today, St. Peter will receive me up there and say to me 'Pedro Pablo, you've done well, I know.' "

Congress also approved changes to legislation whereby the president may no longer dissolve congress and call fresh elections in case of political crisis. Up until now, Kuczynski, whose two vice-presidents threatened to resign in December in case of impeachment, had the constitutional faculty to call fresh elections.

"This situation is taking the political crisis to extremes, without taking into account the fact that there's a constitutional mandate, who won the elections fairly and has a mandate with which to comply," cabinet chief Mercedes Aráoz told reporters in Lima. "It's madness, and demonstrates that we're returning to the era of dictatorship."

Kuczynski's problems came to a head once more after Odebrecht's Peru country manager Jorge Barata met last week in Brazil with Peruvian special prosecutors. Barata allegedly claimed to have made a US$300,000 contribution to Kuczynski's campaign, in addition to US$6mn in funding for another five presidential candidates.

Odebrecht, which in December 2016 admitted to paying millions of dollars in bribes to secure contracts across Latin America, operated dozens of infrastructure concessions awarded during the governments of Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Alan García (2006-2011) and Ollanta Humala (2011-2016).

Kuczynski last year ordered Odebrecht to pull out of Peru after the company admitted to having paid at least US$29mn in bribes to Peruvian officials from 2005-2014. From 1988-2015 Peru awarded Odebrecht 23 contracts worth US$16.9bn.

The lingering political instability has discouraged private investment and dragged down economic growth to just 2.5% last year from 3.9% in 2016 as work remains suspended on infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars.

Congress "isn't respecting due process," said Juan Sheput, a member of Kuczynski's Peruanos por el Kambio party. "It's an outrage and delegitimizes the impeachment process, turning into a perfect coup d'état."