Former president of Peru sentenced to 20 years in Odebrecht case

Former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) was sentenced this Monday (21) to 20 years and six months in prison for the crimes of aggravated collusion and money laundering in the Odebrecht case.

According to information from the newspaper El Comércio, the sentence was handed down by the Second Collegiate Court of the National Superior Court of Specialized Criminal Justice, presided over by judge Zaida Pérez.

Toledo, 78 years old, had been accused by the Public Ministry of having favored the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in the concession of works on sections 2 and 3 of the South Interoceanic Highway, in exchange for a bribe of US$35 million.

“It is a historic sentence,” declared prosecutor José Domingo Pérez this Monday. “It is a message that there should be no impunity in our country, that crimes and corruption are punished,” he added. Roberto Su, the former president’s lawyer, said he will appeal the sentence.

Toledo had been arrested in the United States in July 2019. He was released on bail in 2020, but was extradited in April last year to Peru.

Alejandro Toledo was taken to Barbadillo prison, in Lima, where two other former presidents of Peru were also detained, Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), convicted of ordering illegal searches and seizures, human rights violations, embezzlement and for receiving bribes, and Pedro Castillo (2021-2022), arrested for attempting a coup d’état.

Fujimori died in September, after being released in December 2023.