- To Spend Time in Prison Built for Ex-Presidents, Leaders
By Abiola Olawale
A former President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, has been sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison.
Toledo received the jail term after he was convicted of taking $35m in bribes from a Brazilian construction firm, the Odebrecht construction firm, in exchange for a freeway construction contract.
Toledo, the 78-year-old former leader of Peru, who served in office from 2001 to 2006, was first arrested in the United States in 2019 after Peru requested his extradition.
He was sent back to Peru in 2022 after years of legal debate over his potential extradition.
During the court trial, Toledo consistently denied charges of money laundering and collusion levelled against him by prosecutors.
However, during the sentencing, Judge Inés Rojas highlighted that Toledo had violated the trust placed in him by the Peruvian people, who expected him to manage the nation’s finances responsibly.
Toledo will serve his sentence in a prison on the outskirts of the Peruvian capital of Lima, specially constructed to house former presidents.
The New Diplomat reports that this is the latest of the convictions surrounding a corruption scandal involving Odebrecht construction.
Odebrecht-related scandals have led to the jailing of officials in Peru, Panama, and Ecuador. Probes of corruption by the construction giant have also occurred in countries such as Guatemala and Mexico. The company has since changed its name to Novonor.
In 2019, Peru jailed 14 top lawyers while they were investigated for allegations of providing the firm with preferential treatment in public works contracts.
