BRASILIA, April 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Peruvian former first lady Nadine Heredia, sentenced with her husband to 15 years in prison for money laundering, arrived Wednesday in Brazil, where she has been granted asylum, officials said.

Heredia, 48, and ex-president Ollanta Humala were sentenced Tuesday after being convicted of graft linked to a globe-spanning corruption scandal involving Brazilian construction group Odebrecht paying bribes to politicians.

The pair were found guilty of receiving illegal contributions from Odebrecht and the Venezuelan government in two presidential campaigns.

Humala, 62, was taken into custody in the courtroom after the verdict was read out and jailed at a police base. His lawyers said they will file an appeal against his conviction.

A judge ordered the arrest of Heredia, who did not attend the sentencing hearing and instead went to the Brazilian embassy in Lima.

She was granted safe passage by the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to travel to Brazil with her son.

A diplomatic source told AFP Heredia arrived in the capital Brasilia on a Brazilian military plane Wednesday.

Brazil's foreign ministry said Heredia and her son had been granted entry under the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum, and will now "undergo the necessary procedures for their migratory regularization in Brazil."