Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo was sentenced to 20 years and 6 months for his involvement in a corruption case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
This was reported by AR.
As noted, Toledo is accused of taking a $35 million bribe from Odebrecht in exchange for permission to build a highway connecting Brazil with southern Peru. The Lima court handed down the verdict after years of legal wrangling, including a dispute over whether Toledo, who led Peru from 2001 to 2006, could be extradited from the United States.
Odebrecht, which has built some of Latin America’s most important infrastructure projects, admitted to US authorities in 2016 that it had bought government contracts across the region for lavish bribes.
The US Department of Justice’s investigation led to inspections in several countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador.
At the same time, Toledo denied the charges. His lawyer Roberto Siu told reporters after the hearing that they would appeal the verdict.
After the hearing, prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez called the verdict ‘historic’ and said that it shows Peruvians that ‘crime and corruption are punishable’.