Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo sentenced to more than 20 years in ‘Lava Jato case’

After more than 170 court hearings and a complex extradition process from the United States, Alejandro Toledo Manrique was sentenced to prison this Monday. Lava Jato case. The judiciary sentenced the man who embodied the return to democracy at the beginning of this century and led the march that toppled the Fujimori regime to 20 years and six months in jail for crimes of collusion and money laundering , taking advantage of its characteristics to establish himself as the successor of the Inca Pachacutec.

In July 2001, on his first day as president, Toledo symbolically took the oath at the Sacsayhuaman fortress in Cuzco, just as the Incas did in the time of Tahuantinsuyo, then he climbed the heights of Machu Picchu and, in the middle of a mysterious Aura, he said with theatricality: “I have come to you, Millennial Cuzco, to ask for the strength to overthrow unemployment and poverty in Peru, no longer to overthrow the dictatorship.” Two decades later, that bravery of Toledo has turned into dust and like other heads of state caught in the clutches of corruption, he too will be destined to spend his last days behind bars.

The prosecutor’s office has argued that Toledo, 78, took $35 million in bribes in 2004 and 2005 to favor Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in the concession of Sections 2 and 3 of the South Interoceanic Highway. Arrangements with Mr. Barata (…). “They’ve brought me into this issue without knowing why,” the economist said in his latest defense last week. Statements by Brazilian engineer Jorge Barata, Odebrecht’s former head in Peru, were important in supporting the allegation.

During the sentencing reading, Toledo, dressed in shirt and jacket, was seen to be very active, taking notes, scratching his eyebrows, crossing his arms and whispering with his lawyer Roberto Su. The incident occurred a few meters from the Barbadillo prison, located in the Atay district, east of Lima, where the leader of the inactive Peruvian Positable Party has been held since April 2023 after being extradited from the United States. The National Directorate of Special Operations (DINOZ) room was inaugurated in August for the purpose of cracking down on jailed former presidents. Since the release of Alberto Fujimori, the only guests of said prison are Toledo and Pedro Castillo.

“I am a statistical error. I come from a family of sixteen siblings, six twins, and I am the only one who has had the privilege of studying abroad, reaching the highest levels academically and professionally (…). “I don’t understand why love for my country brings me here,” said Alejandro Toledo recently, whose defense includes highlighting his success story – he was born in a populated center of the Ancash region. He studied at the universities of San Francisco and Stanford – highlighting his health condition – he has prostate cancer and heart disease – and denies any association with them. Lava Jato case.

The truth is that the court indicated that the prosecutor José Domingo Pérez of the Lava Jato Special Team demonstrated that Alejandro Toledo “colluded with individuals,” and “unusual” to accelerate the bidding process for Southern Sections 2 and 3. “Intervened”. Interoceanic Highway, a road project connecting Peru and Brazil. Furthermore, they determined that “to receive the bribe amounts, he persuaded his friend Joseph Maiman to become his intermediary and receive bribes from Odebrecht through his companies.” The Public Ministry says that, in addition to the $35 million, Toledo may have received another $30 million between 2006 and 2011 due to a money laundering scheme run by Israeli businessman Joseph Maimon, who died in 2021.

“Even more than a pious Cholo, Alejandro Toledo was one of the many unholy politicians who succumbed to pettiness and corruption. He had the opportunity to be the president of the return of democracy and he chose to be the president of the return of corrupt democracy,” said political analyst Gonzalo Banda. Alejandro Toledo’s partner, the former First Lady of Jewish origin, Eliane Carp, will also have to answer to Peruvian justice. He has been under an 18-month preventive detention order since 2017, with a requested sentence of 16 years and eight months since 2019 for the alleged crime of money laundering. Carp has been in Israel since May 2023, a country with which Peru does not have an extradition treaty.

The sentence awarded to Alejandro Toledo will be calculated from April 23, 2023 and will end on October 22, 2043, when he will be 97 years old. “I request you to please (consider) that my health condition is very complex in whatever decision you take. I have cancer, I have heart problems and in a few months I will be 80,” the economist said in one of his last attempts to persuade the court. It also determined that there would be no suspension of sentence in the case of Toledo because his extradition process had caused damage to the Peruvian state. After hearing the sentence, the man who once represented democratic hope crossed his fingers and walked slowly back to his cell.