Peru’s ex-president Alejandro Toledo is sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption

A Peruvian court on Monday sentenced former President Alejandro Toledo to more than 20 years in prison for taking multi-million dollar bribes from scandal-hit Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht.

The Supreme Court accepted the prosecutor’s recommended prison sentence, it announced at a hearing attended by the 78-year-old, who led the South American nation from 2001 to 2006.

Toledo, a U.S.-educated economist with a doctorate from Stanford University, insisted he was innocent and asked for leniency. He said he has cancer and heart problems.

‘I want to go to a private clinic. I ask you please let me get better or die at home,” he said during a hearing last week.

Toledo appeared calm in court when he was found guilty of conspiracy and money laundering for receiving $35 million from Odebrecht.