The Ninth Liquidating Criminal Chamber of Lima on Thursday resumed the oral trial hearing against former President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) and other defendants over the
Find out why the former president is being investigated.
Accusation
The Prosecutor's Office accuses Toledo of having favored the Odebrecht company in the tender for the Southern Interoceanic Highway (stretches 2-3), and the Camargo Correa company for stretch 4 of the same work, in exchange for the payment of bribes that would have been delivered through Israeli businessman Josef Maiman.
According to the Public Ministry, that money would have been used to establish offshore companies in Costa Rica, among which was the Ecoteva Consulting Group foundation, owned by Eva Fernenbug —mother of Toledo's wife, Eliane Karp.
Properties
In 2013, Ecoteva acquired a property valued at US$3.8 million in the upper-class Las Casuarinas neighborhood and an office in the Omega building valued at US$882,000 —both located in Lima's Surco district.
Besides, Ecoteva paid off the mortgages on Toledo's house in the Camacho neighborhood, worth US$217,000, and in the Punta Sal beach area, Tumbes region, worth US$277,000.
The properties were seized by the Prosecutor's Office as part of the investigations against the former president, his wife, his mother-in-law, and his collaborators over the money laundering crime.
Contradictions
After the acquisitions were revealed, Toledo said that Josef Maiman, who was his friend, had lent him the money to pay off the mortgages on his home.
Similarly, he indicated that the properties had been acquired by his mother-in-law, Fernenbug, using resources that she had received as a victim of the Holocaust.
Later, Toledo pointed out that the money had belonged to his friend Maiman, who had decided to make real estate investments in partnership with his mother-in-law.
Maiman
Jose Maiman entered into a plea bargain deal in 2017.
He declared to the Prosecutor's Office that he had used his company accounts to receive bribes from Brazilian companies Odebrecht and Camargo Correa in favor of Toledo.
This version coincides with the statement provided by Jorge Barata, a former Odebrecht executive in Peru, who affirmed that the company had paid US$31 million in various deposits to Maiman's accounts and in cash.
Maiman died on October 9, 2021.
Under investigation
In addition to former President Toledo; his wife, Eliane Karp; his mother-in-law, Eva Fernenbug; plus brothers Avraham and Shai Dan On are involved in the investigation and proceedings.
The Prosecutor's Office requests that Toledo be sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in prison for this case.