Politics Peru's ex-President Toledo sentenced to long prison term for corruption

Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo has been sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison for corruption and money laundering. In 2005, he accepted a bribe of 35 million US dollars (32.3 million euros) from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht for the contract to build a section of the Interoceanica highway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, according to the Peruvian judiciary's verdict. The 78-year-old had thus caused financial damage to the state. Toledo turned himself in to the authorities in the USA last year and was extradited to Peru. Toledo was president of the Latin American country from 2001 to 2006.

The Odebrecht affair is considered the biggest corruption scandal in Latin America. According to estimates by the US judiciary, the company, which was once founded by descendants of German emigrants, paid around 785 million dollars (734 million euros) in bribes in twelve countries. Construction projects often ended up being more expensive than planned. For example, the section of the Interoceanica in Peru ended up costing 2.1 billion US dollars instead of the planned 850 million.

SDA