Peru’s media spotlight was focused on the resolution of the corruption case involving former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, who led the Andean country from 2001 to 2006. On October 21, a court sentenced the former president to 20 years and six months in prison for collusion and money laundering. In addition, the court disqualified him from holding public office for three years.
Toledo, who was extradited from the United States in April 2023, denies all accusations against him. During the last days of the trial, he requested that the court allow him to serve his expected sentence at home, as he claims he suffers from cancer and heart disease. For the time being, his lawyer Roberto Su declared that he will appeal the sentence before the corresponding judicial authorities. “The defense is going to file the appeal,” Su said. “We hope that in a second instance, it can be reviewed and analyzed. We believe that establishing a criminal liability and a civil reparation in the terms that have been proposed is laughable.”
According to prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez, Toledo received more than 35 million dollars from the Brazilian company Odebrecht in exchange for giving it the license to build 650 kilometers of the Interoceanic Highway that joins Peru with Brazil. The work was initially valued at 507 million dollars, although at the end of the process, it cost more than 1.255 billion dollars, making it one of the most expensive road projects in Peru’s recent history.
The prosecution also argued that the money was paid to an offshore account belonging to Josef Maiman (who died in 2021), a Peruvian-Israeli businessman and Toledo’s close friend. During the trial, Toledo even admitted that Maiman had paid the mortgage on his house several times, which goes some way to demonstrate their personal relationship.
Odebrecht’s bribes in Peru
On several occasions, the Odebrecht company has stated that it used to bribe high-ranking officials and former presidents in exchange for them arranging public tenders so that the company would win bids to build expensive works. In Peru alone, apart from Toledo, three other former presidents allegedly accepted bribes from the Brazilian company: Alan García (2006-2011), who committed suicide after learning of an arrest warrant against him; Ollanta Humala (2011-2016); and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018).
This reveals a deep corruption scheme in the high spheres of the Peruvian state and, especially, among the most important politicians of the electoral power group. After Fujimorismo, Toledo, who raised his humble origins during the electoral campaign in which he was elected president, presented himself as the popular alternative to decadent Fujimorismo. However, after almost a decade since he became president, he demonstrates that Peruvian institutions have long maintained corrupt practices in their structural functioning. Corruption has become institutionalized in Peru.