A court in Peru has sentenced former President Alejandro Toledo to 20 years and six months in prison for corruption and money laundering.
Prosecutors accused Toledo, who served as president from 2001 to 2006, of taking $35 million (Sh5.2 billion) in bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for awarding them a contract to build a highway in southern Peru.
Toledo, 78, was arrested in California five years ago, where he had lived for many years.
He was extradited to Peru in 2023 to face the charges. Odebrecht, a company now known as Novonor, admitted to paying millions of dollars in bribes to government officials in several countries, including Peru and the U.S., to secure contracts.
During the trial, Judge Inés Rojas stated that Toledo had betrayed the trust of Peruvians who had expected him to manage public finances responsibly.
She emphasized that he had “defrauded the state” instead of protecting its resources. Toledo, who denies the charges, was seen smirking and laughing during the court proceedings.
The Odebrecht scandal has implicated several former Peruvian leaders, including Alan García, who tragically took his own life in 2019 as police arrived to arrest him on similar bribery allegations.
Other former presidents, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Ollanta Humala, are also under investigation in the case.
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