Peru’s former president has been sentenced to more than 20 years in a bribery case Court Affairs

Alejandro Toledo is the latest Latin American leader to be implicated in the Odebrecht corruption scandal.

Peru’s former president Alejandro Toledo has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, the latest Latin American leader to be jailed for corruption at construction company Odebrecht.

Toledo was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison on Monday after he was convicted of taking a $35m bribe from a Brazilian construction company to win a contract to build a highway.

“I want to go to a private clinic. Please allow me to recover or die at home,” said Toledo in the courtroom last week, saying that he is facing health problems caused by cancer.

The 78-year-old former leader of the Andean nation, who served in office from 2001 to 2006, received one of the heaviest sentences yet in connection with Odebrecht’s campaign of bribery for political gains across the continent.

During the year-long trial, Toledo consistently denied the money laundering and racketeering charges brought against him by prosecutors. He was first arrested in the United States in 2019 after Peru requested his extradition, and was returned there in 2022 after years of legal debate over his extradition.

Scandals related to Odebrecht have led to the arrest of officials in Peru, Panama and Ecuador. Investigations into corruption by the construction giant have also taken place in countries such as Guatemala and Mexico. The company has changed its name to Nononor.

In 2019, Peru arrested 14 top lawyers while they were being investigated for allegedly giving the company preferential treatment in public works contracts.

Toledo will serve his sentence in a prison on the outskirts of Peru’s capital, Lima, which was specially built to house former presidents.

Soon he may have more company.

Two other former presidents, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Ollanta Humala, are being investigated in similar cases related to Odebrecht.

Former President Pedro Castillo has also been arrested as he faces charges of “treason” after a failed attempt to dissolve Congress in 2022.