LIMA, Nov 8 — Peruvian prosecutors opened a corruption investigation yesterday against the Italian-American husband of jailed opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, her lawyer said.

Businessman Mark Vito Villanella was being implicated in the same corruption investigation that has seen his wife jailed, the lawyer Giuliana Loza told AFP.

The investigation was ordered by public prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez, who has accused Fujimori of taking more than a million dollars from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in illegal campaign donations.

Fujimori was provisionally jailed for 36 months last week while a massive investigation into alleged corruption at her Popular Force party continues.

Prosecutors believe Villanella’s purchase of two plots of land south of the capital Lima in 2015 and 2016 was part of a money laundering operation.

Villanella said yesterday he paid around US$183,000 (RM759,742.80) for the land out of his own savings.

"There’s no limit to the injustice. I’m not a political person, it seems that the judge (Richard Concepcion) Carhuancho wants to put me in prison,” Villanella told Canal N television, alluding to the judge who sentenced Fujimori to preventive detention last week.

"Not only to they want to leave my daughters without a mother, they also want to leave them without their dad. It’s a witch hunt,” said Villanella, who described himself as a "successful businessman.” — AFP