2024-10-22 01:16:00
Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) was sentenced this Monday to 20 years and six months in prison for committing the crimes of collusion and money laundering following bribes received from the Brazilian company Odebrecht.
The Second National Collegiate Criminal Court, presided over by Zaida Pérez, issued the sentence in which it is believed 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 Public Prosecutor’s request and inflicted nine years in prison on Toledo for collusion and 11 years and six months for money laundering.
“In the crime of collusion, the court claims that a series of irregularities, unusual interference and acceleration of the tender procedure for the aforementioned work, illegal acts linked to Toledo Manrique have been demonstrated”, indicated the Judiciary on the social network
The sentence, read by judge Inés Rojas, specifies that Toledo, 78 years old, “colluded with interested parties such as Odebrecht so that, with a bribe of 35 million dollars, the Brazilian company won the tender for the construction of sections 2 and 3 of the Interoceanic Highway, causing damage to the State.”
“All these irregularities constitute and demonstrate a clear agreement between an official, the first authority of the State, and private individuals. This behavior defrauds the State”, he underlines.
Furthermore, it is highlighted that the former president, to obtain the bribe, “convinced his friend Josef Maiman (deceased Israeli businessman) to be his intermediary and to receive, through the companies he created, 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 Ate district of Lima, where he has remained since his extradition from the United States in April 2023.
Toledo is the first former Peruvian president convicted in the Odebrecht corruption megacase.
The court ruling also sentenced two former public officials of the Agency for the Promotion of Private Investments (Proinversión), Alberto Pasco-Font and Sergio Bravo, to nine years in prison, and the entrepreneur José Castillo Dibós to 14 years.
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