Ex-president of Peru gets 20 years for corruption
A court in Peru has sentenced former President Alejandro Toledo to 20 years and six months in prison for corruption and money laundering.
Prosecutors allege that he accepted $35 million (£27 million) in bribes from a Brazilian construction firm awarded a contract to build a road in southern Peru.
Toledo, 78, served as president from 2001 to 2006.
He was arrested five years ago in California, where he had lived and worked for many years, and was extradited to Peru last year.
The Brazilian company Odebrecht acknowledged paying millions in bribes to officials throughout Latin America and the U.S. to secure government contracts.
Judge Inés Rojas stated that Peruvians had “trusted” Toledo as their president, responsible for managing public finances and ensuring the proper use of resources.
Instead, she said, as reported by the Associated Press, he had “defrauded the state.”
Toledo has denied the allegations against him and on Monday frequently smirked and at times laughed, especially when the judge was speaking on Monday, the news agency notes.
In 2019, another former Peruvian president, Alan García, shot himself when police arrived at his home to arrest him over bribery allegations involving Odebrecht, which has since changed its name to Novonor.
Two other former Peruvian presidents, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Ollanta Humala, are also being investigated in the Odebrecht case.
