Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison for accepting $35 million in bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, Reuters reports.
Toledo, who served as president from 2001 to 2006, was found guilty of money laundering and collusion, as he allegedly accepted the bribes in exchange for allowing Odebrecht to secure a contract for building a road connecting Peru’s southern coast with an Amazonian region in Brazil. Throughout the year-long trial, Toledo denied the charges.
Toledo, 78, is currently battling cancer and requested to serve his sentence at home for health reasons. Toledo was arrested in the US in 2019 after Peru sought his extradition. Two other ex-presidents, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Ollanta Humala, are also being investigated in the Odebrecht case.
