Peru ex-President Toledo convicted of corruption, sentenced to 20 years in jail
Alejandro Toledo received a conviction for accepting $35 million in bribes from the entity previously identified as Odebrecht, in return for granting it a contract to construct the roadway linking Peru’s southern coastline to a region in western Brazil.
In brief
- Alejandro Toledo is facing prosecution for allegedly receiving a $35 million bribe in exchange for a road contract.
- Accused of money laundering and collusion, he refutes the allegations.
- Seeking to serve his sentence at home, he is fighting against cancer in court.
Peru’s ex-leader, Alejandro Toledo, has been found guilty of accepting bribes from the major Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, resulting in a harsh 20-year, six-month prison sentence being imposed on him this Monday.
Peru registers its initial prominent conviction connected to the continent-wide Lava Jato corruption scandal in Brazil.
Between 2001 and 2006, Toledo, a 78-year-old economist with a Ph.D. from Stanford University, served as the leader of the Andean country.
According to prosecutors, he has been found guilty of accepting $35 million in bribes from the company previously identified as Odebrecht. This was in return for granting it the contract to construct the road linking Peru’s southern coastline to a region in western Brazil’s Amazon.
Throughout the trial lasting a year, Toledo refuted the accusations of money laundering and collusion.
A major corruption scandal unfolded in Latin America involving Odebrecht, currently rebranded as Novonor. In 2016, the company confessed to engaging in bribery practices across twelve countries to win contracts for public projects, marking it as the region’s most significant corruption case.
Toledo, who is currently fighting cancer, appealed to the court last week to allow him to complete his sentence in the comfort of his own home. “Grant me the opportunity to either recover or spend my final days in familiar surroundings,” he pleaded.
In a small Lima prison where Toledo has been detained since last year, the statement was made in a room that had been arranged for the occasion.
In 2022, allegations of “rebellion” have led to the detention of ex-President Pedro Castillo, who attempted to dissolve Congress.
Investigations into the Odebrecht case have also extended to include two former presidents, namely Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Ollanta Humala.
Toledo, renowned for his childhood shoe-shining days, got arrested in the United States in 2019 following a request for his extradition by Peruvian authorities.
Testimony from former Odebrecht executive Jorge Barata and Toledo’s ex-collaborator Josef Maiman, who alleged that Toledo accepted bribes, served as crucial evidence for the prosecutors.
The contract for the road construction was signed by the ex-president with Odebrecht; however, the actual building occurred under two successive administrations.
