As Keiko stepped out of jail, another important figure, César Villanueva, stepped in. Villanueva was among those who appeared to have received large bribes from Odebrecht when he was governor of the San Martín region. He subsequently became prime minister during the government of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-18), a post he retained during the first few months of Kuczynski’s successor, Martín Vizcarra.

The decision to jail Villanueva appears to have come about because of attempts to influence the course of justice by corrupt means.