On Monday, a Peruvian court sentenced former president Alejandro Toledo to over 20 years in prison for accepting multi-million-dollar bribes from the Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht. The court upheld the prosecution’s recommended prison term during a hearing attended by the 78-year-old Toledo, who served as Peru’s president from 2001 to 2006.
Toledo, a US-trained economist with a doctorate from Stanford University, maintained his innocence and pleaded for leniency, citing his health issues, including cancer and heart problems. “I want to go to a private clinic. I ask you please to let me get better or die at home,” he said during a previous hearing.
During Monday’s court session, Toledo appeared calm, taking notes but remaining silent as the verdict was read. He was found guilty of collusion and money laundering for accepting $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for contracts to build parts of an international highway connecting Peru’s Pacific coast with Brazil’s Atlantic coast. Despite his nervous smile, the ruling left no doubt about his conviction.
Toledo’s lawyer stated that they plan to appeal the sentence. Toledo had been living in the United States for several years before being extradited last year after surrendering at a federal court in California. Odebrecht, now rebranded as Novonor, has admitted to paying hundreds of millions in bribes across Latin America to secure large public contracts.
The so-called “Car Wash” scandal has seen dozens of politicians and business figures behind bars.
Toledo is one of several Peruvian presidents implicated in a massive investigation targeting the group, which acknowledged paying millions in bribes to Peruvian officials between 2005 and 2014.
Two-term leader Alan Garcia committed suicide in 2019 when police came to his house to arrest him.
In 2018, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski became the first Latin American president to resign over alleged connections to the Odebrecht case, which was not the first time graft allegations rocked Peruvian politics.
Alberto Fujimori, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, left office when he became engulfed in a major corruption scandal and went into self-imposed exile in Japan.
He memorably faxed in his resignation but was arrested years later in Chile and sent back to Peru for trial.
Fujimori was released from prison on humanitarian grounds last December while serving a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity.
He died in September aged 86 after a long battle with cancer.
