Peru's former president Alejandro Toledo was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison in a case , related to the Brazilian construction giant “Odebrecht“, which has become synonymous with corruption throughout Latin America, reported AP, quoted by BTA.
Authorities accused Toledo of accepting $35 million in bribes from “Odebrecht“ in exchange for a highway construction permit in the South American country. The National High Specialized Criminal Court in the capital Lima imposed the sentence after years of litigation, including a dispute over whether Toledo, who ruled Peru from 2001 to 2006, could be extradited from the US.
Judge Ines Rojas said that Toledo's victims were Peruvians who “trusted” as its president. Rojas explained that in this role, Toledo was “responsible for the management of public finances” and was responsible for “protecting and ensuring the proper“ resource utilization. Instead, she said, he “defrauded the state”.
In 2016, the company “Odebrecht“, which has built some of the most significant infrastructure sites in Latin America, admitted to US authorities that it had bought government contracts across the region with lavish bribes. The U.S. Department of Justice's investigation has spawned inspections in several countries, including Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador.
/