Alejandro Toledo, Peruvian former President, was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison on Monday, 22 October 2024, after being found guilty of accepting bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. The ruling represents Peru’s first well-known prosecution related to Brazil’s continent-spanning Lava Jato corruption scandal.

Toledo, a 78-year-old economist who holds a doctorate from Stanford University, governed the Andean nation between 2001 and 2006. Prosecutors said he was found guilty of accepting $35 million in bribes from the old Odebrecht business in exchange for allowing it to secure a contract to construct the road that presently links the southern coast of Peru with an Amazon region in western Brazil.

Toledo refuted the allegations of money laundering and cooperation throughout the year-long trial. Odebrecht now known as Novonor was at the heart of the biggest graft scandal in Latin America, after admitting in 2016 that it had bribed authorities in twelve different nations to obtain public works contracts.

As he fights cancer, Toledo requested last week that the court allow him to complete his sentence at home. “Please let me heal or die at home,” he pleaded.

The sentence was announced in a specially designed room, where Toledo has been held since last year in a small prison in Lima. In addition, former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo is being detained there on charges of “rebellion” following his 2022 attempt to dissolve Congress.

Ollanta Humala and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, two more former Peruvian President presidents, are also under investigation in the Odebrecht case. Toledo, known for shining shoes as a child, was detained in the US in 2019 after Peruvian authorities asked for his extradition.

Prosecutors drew testimony from ex-collaborator Josef Maiman and former Odebrecht executive Jorge Barata, who both claimed Toledo accepted bribes. The road was built throughout two administrations, but the former president signed a contract with Odebrecht for its construction.

Reuters

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