Main witness in corruption trial against former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo has died

Businessman Josef Maiman, one of the main witnesses to the money laundering accusation against former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, died in Israel on Saturday at the age of 75.

The businessman, who lived in his youth in Peru and had a long friendship with Toledo, signed in 2019 an effective collaboration agreement with the Peruvian prosecution to testify on how the ex-president used the accounts of his companies to hide bribes from millionaires.

Maiman told the prosecutor’s office he used his companies to divert bribes Brazilian construction company Odebrecht made to Toledo for his government to contract him to build two sections of the South Interoceanic Highway, as well as the Brazilian company Camargo Correa which intervened in the same work.

Earlier this month, US justice approved the extradition of Toledo to Peru to be prosecuted for allegedly receiving up to $ 35 million from Odebrecht in exchange for favoring the Brazilian company in its operations. in this country when he was president, between 2001 and 2006.

The 75-year-old former Peruvian president was arrested in 2019 in California, where he has resided for several years. From that point on, he was in prison for 8 months due to the risk of escape, although he was able to get out of prison and be under house arrest in March 2020 with the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic.

Toledo is one of four former Peruvian presidents involved in the corruption scandal of Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which drove part of Brazil’s political and economic elite behind bars, and also lagged behind bars. other personalities in Latin American countries.

Alan García (1985-1990, 2006-2011) committed suicide in 2019, at the age of 69, when he was about to be arrested by the Lima police, in connection with this case. Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018) are also under the watchful eye of justice.

Source: EFE Agency