Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) served a week of imprisonment on Sunday in the prison of the Directorate of Special Operations (Diroes) of the National Police in Lima, where he must be detained for 18 months in preventive detention in the middle of a process in which he is accused of a corruption case involving bribery for works contracts.
The Public Ministry maintains that Toledo, 77, committed the crimes of money laundering, influence peddling and collusion for allegedly having received 35 million dollars to award sections two, three and four of the Interoceanic Highway to the Brazilian construction companies Odebrecht and Camargo and Correa during his government.
Jorge Barata, a former Odebrecht executive, and Josef Maiman, a personal friend of Toledo, were the ones who confessed to the bribes in statements before prosecutor José Domingo Pérez, who is in charge of the investigation and has requested 20 years and six months in prison. for the former president.
Roberto Su, former president Toledo’s lawyer, affirmed that his client will not accept effective collaboration to clarify his responsibility in the Interoceanic case.
“If you are accused of a murder and you are guilty, you have to accept (effective collaboration), but if you are innocent, are you going to accept? (…) only those who say I am guilty, I accept my guilt and enter into a negotiation, but not those who say they have not participated, as is the case of my client, “said lawyer Roberto Su briefly. to the voice of america after leaving one of the initial hearings this week against Toledo.
The lawyer also said that they will request house arrest for Toledo in order for him to leave the Diroes prison for health reasons. He denied that he has any kind of prison facilities that he shares with former presidents Alberto Fujimori and Pedro Castillo.
face their crimes
David Waisman was vice president of Alejandro Toledo. Before entering the public service, he had a fervent opposition to the government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) for the policies it adopted against the small industries that he represented between 1998 and 1999. Thus, based on this problem, he met Toledo.
“On one occasion in the city of Chiclayo, in northern Peru, I had exhibited before hundreds of micro and small industrial entrepreneurs. When I finished, there was a little bit of press and when the majority left, a man with an Andean complexion approached me and said: ‘Waisman, I am Alejandro Toledo and I am going to be president,’ ”he recalled in dialogue with the VOA.
Waisman indicated that the former president told him that he wanted to talk with him and invited him to the activities of his Perú Posible party. Later, Toledo expressed his interest in him to be part of his presidential platform in the 2001 general elections, which he accepted on one condition: that he fulfill his campaign promises and not get involved in acts of corruption.
However, the relationship between both political partners changed in the first days of the government. Apart from having been vice president, Waisman was also appointed defense minister.
He lasted less than five months due to disagreements with the Executive, but during his tenure he had a disagreement with Toledo that marked the beginning of the end of his departure.
“When I was Minister of Defense, after three to four months of government, Mr. Toledo entrusted me with the purchase of a helicopter to visit all possible towns to see how I could help them. So, he entrusts me with that and then I call the Russian ambassador at the time to talk to him and explain what I want,” Waisman said.
Toledo wanted a modern, armored helicopter for personal use and to protect himself from possible attacks by remnants of terrorism and drug trafficking. However, the unexpected happened: “Three days passed and Alejandro [Toledo] He tells me that he withdrew from the purchase. I called the Russian ambassador and then I found out that they had revalued the cost of the helicopter by more than two and a half times, ”he noted. In the end, they did not buy anything.
From this episode, Waisman gradually distanced himself from the government. For this reason, 17 years after leaving office, he maintains that he never imagined this political end of former President Toledo. “Talking with other former members of the party, they were surprised and disappointed like me because we felt deceived by his lies,” he said.
Waisman pointed out that Toledo’s arrival in Peru should help him confess whether more politicians and businessmen were involved in acts of corruption on the Interoceanic Highway. In addition, he announced that if justice requires it, he will be a witness in the trial of the Ecoteva case, related to the money from the bribes delivered by Odebrecht.
Eduardo Salhuana, former Minister of Justice, told the voice of america That former President Toledo “represented the fight against corruption and that now he is involved in a corruption issue is a double disappointment.”
In addition, the current parliamentarian for the Alliance for Progress believes that all Peruvians have “the right to know what really happened in the Interoceanic Highway.”
“What happened, who is involved and involved. The truth will help us get ahead. Who participated, received bribes and perks. If the former president can point out, then let him say it with his name and surname so that justice can act ”.
political cruelty
Juan Sheput, former Minister of Labor and former presidential adviser between 2001 and 2005, considered in dialogue with the VOA that “we must differentiate Alejandro Toledo, a statesman and president of the Republic, from Alejandro Toledo, involved in acts of corruption.”
“Unlike other governments, in which officials have been involved as seen in the Lava Jato investigations, in the case of Alejandro Toledo it was circumscribed, after the information that came out later, to a very intimate environment where Josef Maiman and Abi Dan On, Israeli citizens. State officials are not mentioned ”, he indicated.
Another case against Alejandro Toledo
Ecoteva Case
Another case that is related to that of the Interoceánica is the one referred to Ecoteva. This is an open investigation against former President Toledo for the alleged crime of money laundering for having made the purchase of real estate and mortgage payments with money from companies incorporated in Panama and Costa Rica.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the funds to open the companies Ecoteva – in the name of his mother-in-law, Eva Fernenbug -, Ecotaste and Ashdan allegedly came from the payment of bribes received by the former president for the concession and construction of the Interoceanic Highway.
Included in this case are Toledo’s wife, Eliane Karp, Eva Fernenbug herself, the former head of presidential security, Avraham Dan On, and his son, Shai Dan On, as co-authors of the crime of money laundering.
The Prosecutor’s Office requested 16 years and eight months in prison for Toledo, Karp and Dan On. While 10 years for Fernenbug.
Sheput added that although former President Toledo was involved in the corruption scheme of Brazilian companies, his government was successful because “it laid the foundations for the economic growth that has accompanied Peru until now despite the problems that exist.”
“He found a country in recession and he put the patch on,” he said. The former minister said that Toledo must respond to justice with information that can reach the truth, but under fair conditions, such as house arrest due to his state of health.
“Those who say that he should go to prison, well, justify it. So far I have not heard any forceful argument beyond cruelty or personal antipathy. Prison is not appropriate, but home confinement due to his age, due to his illnesses and because he is being investigated, “concluded Sheput, who announced that he will visit Toledo at Diroes.
family grief
Apart from the lawyer, who watches over former President Toledo is his brother Pedro.
“[¿El expresidente Alejandro Toledo es un perseguido político] Of course, I just want to remember that whoever defeated the dictatorship of [Alberto] Fujimori was him. And what are the consequences that are being paid? The same facts detail that there is a political persecution and revenge of a group of parties and characters that are behind them, ”he told the VOA.
On the other hand, Pedro Toledo questioned the characters who confessed to bribing his brother. “How many versions did they give [Josef] Maiman and [Jorge] cheap? Which of these versions should be believed? If there is a variation and contradiction regarding the accusations, we are not talking about something serious, ”he noted.
He added that “happily, the legal defense has all the evidence and the entire route of money that Maiman has supported. And in none of them does he say that he has received a single dollar [al exmandatario]. So, this has to be clarified in the judicial process. Only as soon as there is a consent sentence, it can be said that he is guilty or innocent.
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