Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo has been sentenced to 20 years and 6 months in prison on Monday, October 21st, for accepting bribes from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. This marks the first high-profile conviction in Peru related to the “Operation Car Wash” corruption scandal that has implicated multiple countries in the Americas.
The corruption scandal, named “Operation Car Wash”, originated from a car wash in Brasília, Brazil, which was found to be involved in money laundering activities.
Additionally, two other former Peruvian presidents, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Ollanta Humala, are also under investigation in connection with the case.
Toledo, a 78-year-old economist with a Ph.D. from Stanford University, served as the President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. Prosecutors alleged that Toledo received a $35 million bribe from Odebrecht to secure a contract for a transnational highway construction project connecting Peru’s southern coast to the Amazon region in western Brazil.
Throughout the year-long trial, Toledo consistently denied the money laundering and conspiracy charges brought against him.
Odebrecht, now known as Novonor, admitted in 2016 to bribing officials in over a dozen countries to secure public works contracts, making it the epicenter of the largest corruption scandal in Latin America.
Last week, Toledo requested to serve his sentence at home due to his battle with cancer.
The verdict was announced in a small room at a prison in Lima, the capital of Peru. Toledo has been incarcerated at the facility since his arrest in the United States in 2019.
Former President Pedro Castillo is also detained at the same prison for his attempt to dissolve the Congress in 2022, facing charges of “sedition”.