Former Peruvian President Toledo receives more than 20 years in prison in a case linked to a corruption scandal

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo was sentenced Monday to 20 years and six months in prison in a case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which has become synonymous with corruption throughout Latin America, where he paid millions of dollars in bribes. to government officials and others.

Authorities accused Toledo of accepting $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for allowing the construction of a highway in the South American country. The National Superior Court of Specialized Criminal Justice in the capital, Lima, imposed the sentence after years of legal wrangling, including over whether Toledo, who governed Peru from 2001 to 2006, could be extradited from the United States. United.

Odebrecht, who built some of Latin America’s most crucial infrastructure projects, admitted to U.S. authorities in 2016 that he bought government contracts across the region with generous bribes. The investigation led by the US Department of Justice resulted in investigations in several countries, including Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador.

In Peru, authorities have accused Toledo and three other former presidents of receiving payments from the construction giant. Toledo has denied the accusations against him.

He will serve his sentence in a prison in the suburbs of Lima. The establishment was specially built to accommodate former Peruvian presidents.

Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo attends a court hearing where the judge will rule on his corruption case in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Guadalupe Pardo

Toledo, 78, was first arrested in 2019 at his home in California, where he had lived since 2016, when he returned to Stanford University, his alma mater, as a visiting scholar to study education in Latin America. He was initially held in solitary confinement in a county jail east of San Francisco, but was placed under house arrest in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and his deteriorating mental health.

He was extradited to Peru in 2022 after an appeals court rejected a challenge to his extradition and surrendered to authorities. Since then, he has remained in preventive detention.

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Associated Press writer Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

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