Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison.

The sentence was handed down less than a year after he received a 20-year sentence for taking bribes in relation to a corruption scandal involving the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

A court in Lima found that Mr Toledo, who governed Peru from 2001 to 2006, received illicit payments from Odebrecht, and with that money, purchased properties and paid off mortgages in his name and in the names of relatives.

In October 2024, the former president was sentenced to 20 years in prison for accepting a $35 million bribe in return for a contract to build a section of the Interoceanic Highway connecting Rio de Janeiro to Lima.

The case, known as the Odebrecht affair, is considered to be the largest corruption scandal in Latin America.

Peru had issued an arrest warrant for Mr Toledo, now 79, in 2017 and requested his extradition from the United States, where he had fled after leaving office.

He was taken into U.S. custody in 2019, and a protracted legal process followed.

In 2023, Mr Toledo turned himself in to U.S. authorities and was extradited to Peru.

The two sentences are to be served concurrently and are calculated from the date of his extradition, April 23, 2023.

The U.S. Justice Department said the construction giant, founded by German immigrants, paid nearly $800 million in bribes to individuals in 12 countries.

Construction projects often ended up costing exponentially more than planned.

For example, the section of the Interoceanic Highway in Peru ended up costing $2.1 billion instead of the planned $850 million. 

(dpa/NAN)