Peru court hands ex-President Toledo new 13-year corruption sentence

A Peruvian court has sentenced former President Alejandro Toledo to 13 years and four months in prison for money laundering, his second conviction in connection with widespread corruption.

Toledo is one of five ex-presidents imprisoned in recent years in Peru, including ex-President Martin Vizcarra, who was released by a court on Wednesday as he awaits trial for allegedly taking bribes more than a decade ago.

Toledo, 79, who was president from 2001 to 2006, was found guilty of using bribe money from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, now known as Novonor, to acquire high-value real estate.

According to prosecutors, Toledo and his wife used $5.1m to buy a house and an office in an upscale Lima neighbourhood and to pay off mortgages on two other properties. The funds were funnelled through an offshore company in Costa Rica that Toledo created to launder the illicit cash, the prosecution said.

Toledo’s conviction on Wednesday follows a sentence of 20 years and six months handed down in October 2024, when he was found guilty of accepting up to $35m in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for awarding the company lucrative public works contracts.

During his yearlong trial, Toledo consistently denied charges of money laundering and collusion levelled against him by prosecutors.

His two sentences will be served concurrently.

Toledo, an economist with degrees from Stanford University and the University of San Francisco, is serving his sentence at a prison on a Lima police base.

Two other ex-presidents, Ollanta Humala and Pedro Castillo, are also currently being held in the special facility built for former leaders of the country.

Former President Martin Vizcarra was also being held at the same facility; however, a top Peruvian court on Wednesday ordered his release while he awaits trial for allegedly taking bribes while he was governor of the Moquegua region 11 years ago.

Vizcarra was jailed last month ahead of his trial, in which the prosecution has asked that he receive a 15-year sentence. He has denied the charges against him, stating that they are a form of political persecution.

He had planned to run for president again in 2026.

The Odebrecht corruption cases, part of the wider “Car Wash” scandal, have implicated governments across Latin America and nearly all of Peru’s presidents this century.

Another former leader, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, 86, is currently on trial for his alleged role in the scheme, with prosecutors seeking a 35-year prison sentence.