Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo was sentenced this Monday to 20 years and six months in prison for committing the crimes of collusion and money laundering for bribes received from the Brazilian company Odebrecht.
The Second National Collegiate Criminal Court, chaired by Zaida Pérez, issued the ruling in which it is considered that the former president favored the Brazilian construction company in the concession of sections 2 and 3 of the Interoceanic Highway, which connects Peru and Brazil, between 2004 and 2005.
Thus, the Peruvian Justice fully accepted the request of the Public Ministry and imposed nine years in prison on Toledo for collusion and 11 years and six months for money laundering.
“In the crime of collusion, the court maintains that a string of irregularities was demonstrated, unusual interference and acceleration of the bidding process for the aforementioned work, illegal acts linked to Toledo Manrique,” indicated the Judiciary on the social network X.
The ruling, which was read by Judge Inés Rojas, states that Toledo, 78, “colluded with interested individuals such as Odebrecht so that, through a bribe of 35 million dollars, the Brazilian company was awarded the tender for the construction of sections 2 and 3 of the Interoceanic Highway, causing harm to the State.”
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“All these irregularities constitute and evidence a clear agreement between an official, the first authority of the State, and private parties. “This behavior defrauds the State,” he said.
In addition, he highlighted that the former president, to get the bribe money, “convinced his friend Josef Maiman (deceased Israeli businessman) to be his intermediary and receive, through his created companies, the bribe from Odebrecht.”
The court announced that the prison sentence is immediate, so Toledo will return to the prison known as Barbadillo, in the Lima district of Ate, where he remained since his extradition from the United States, in April 2023.
Toledo is the first former Peruvian president convicted of the Odebrecht corruption megacase.
The court ruling also handed down nine years in prison to two former public officials of the Private Investment Promotion Agency, Alberto Pasco-Font and Sergio Bravo, and 14 years to businessman José Castillo Dibós.
With information from EFE
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