WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Hours before King Charles III was due to arrive in Australia last week, lawmaker Patrick Gorman posted on social media offering free printed portraits of the British royal for any constituents who visited his office in Perth to claim one.
Gorman, an assistant minister in Australia’s federal government, told The Associated Press that “a number” of eager constituents sought a portrait.
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People wait to see Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (David Gray/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III, and Queen Camilla greets by public at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, Pool)
Britain's King Charles III, and Queen Camilla greets by public at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, Pool)
Britain's King Charles III, center, and Queen Camilla arrive at Defense Establishment Fairbairn in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Saeed Khan/Pool Photo via AP)
A Nationhood pack is seen in Sydney, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, which includes a portrait of Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla that are available under a little-known government policy that says every Australian can request, and receive, a portrait of their monarch. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
The photos of King Charles are available under a little-known government policy that allows every Australian to request, and receive, a portrait of their monarch.
It's unusual in a nation where leaders are increasingly ambivalent about the British royals as Australia’s heads of state.
Elsewhere, British institutions can apply for portraits of King Charles, but individuals usually cannot. In New Zealand, free portraits are available for digital download only. Canadians can receive a printed copy from a monarchist organization if they pay for postage.
But Australians can visit their federal representative’s office and ask for one.
Demand spiked for portraits of Queen Elizabeth II following her death in 2022.
Australian government documents from nearly a year later, released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, show officials were still waiting for an official portrait of King Charles to be supplied by Buckingham Palace.
That portrait was provided to Australia this July. Since then, more than 17,000 copies have been distributed to lawmakers, the Department of Finance told the AP.
Numbers were not available for how many had been requested by the public.
Lawmakers, at times exasperated, can field dozens of requests each time the program is publicized.
Tim Watts, now associate minister for foreign affairs, wrote on social media in 2018 — during a jump in demand following news coverage of the scheme — that fulfilling requests for portraits was “comfortably the dumbest part of my job.”
But while those seeking the images might at times, as Watts noted, have their “tongue firmly in cheek," Gorman said there was legitimate interest, too.
He said he had supplied 85 of the King Charles portraits since they became available, and said colleagues in parliament told him they have had “strong interest” as well.
People wait to see Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (David Gray/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III, and Queen Camilla greets by public at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, Pool)
Britain's King Charles III, and Queen Camilla greets by public at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, Pool)
Britain's King Charles III, center, and Queen Camilla arrive at Defense Establishment Fairbairn in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Saeed Khan/Pool Photo via AP)
A Nationhood pack is seen in Sydney, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, which includes a portrait of Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla that are available under a little-known government policy that says every Australian can request, and receive, a portrait of their monarch. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s former President Alejandro Toledo on Monday was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison in a case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which became synonymous with corruption across Latin America, where it paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials and others.
Authorities accused Toledo of accepting $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for allowing the construction of a highway in the South American country. The National Superior Court of Specialized Criminal Justice in the capital, Lima, imposed the sentence after years of legal wrangling, including a dispute over whether Toledo, who governed Peru from 2001 to 2006, could be extradited from the United States.
Judge Inés Rojas said Toledo’s victims were Peruvians who “trusted” him as their president. Rojas explained that in that role, Toledo was “in charge of managing public finances” and responsible for “protecting and ensuring the correct” use of resources. Instead, she said, he “defrauded the state.”
She added that Toledo “had the duty to act with absolute neutrality, protect and preserve the assets of the state, avoiding their abuse or exploitation,” but he did not do so.
Odebrecht, which built some of Latin America’s most crucial infrastructure projects, admitted to U.S. authorities in 2016 to having bought government contracts throughout the region with generous bribes. The investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice spun probes in several countries, including Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador.
In Peru, authorities accused Toledo and three other former presidents of receiving payments from the construction giant. They alleged Toledo received $35 million from Odebrecht in exchange for the contract to build 650 kilometers (403 miles) of a highway linking Brazil with southern Peru. That portion of the highway was initially estimated to cost $507 million, but Peru ended up paying $1.25 billion.
Rojas at one point read parts of the testimony from former Odebrecht executive in Peru, Jorge Barata, who told prosecutors that the former president called him up to three times after leaving office to demand that he be paid. Toledo lowered his gaze and looked at his hands as Rojas read the expletive-laden remarks that Barata recounted to prosecutors.
Toledo has denied the accusations against him. His attorney, Roberto Siu, told reporters after the hearing that they will appeal the sentence.
The former president on Monday frequently smirked, and at times laughed, particularly when the judge mentioned multi-million-dollar sums central to the case as well as when she struggled to read transcripts and other evidence in the case. Throughout the hearing, he also leaned to his right to speak with his attorney.
In contrast, last week, he asked the court with a broken voice and his hands together, as if he were praying, to let him return home citing his age, cancer and heart problems.
Toledo, 78, was first arrested in 2019 at his home in California, where he had been living since 2016, when he returned to Stanford University, his alma mater, as a visiting scholar to study education in Latin America. He was initially held in solitary confinement at a county jail east of San Francisco but was released to house arrest in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and his deteriorating mental health.
He was extradited to Peru in 2022 after a court of appeals denied a challenge to his extradition and he surrendered to authorities. He has since remained under preventive detention.
Rojas said Toledo will get credit for time served starting in April 2023. He will serve the remainder of his sentence at a prison on the outskirts of Lima that was built specifically to house former Peruvian presidents.
Prosecutor José Domingo Pérez after the hearing described the sentence as “historic” and said it shows Peruvians that “crimes and corruption are punished.”
Odebrecht rebranded as Novonor in 2020.
Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Peruvian former President Alejandro Toledo attends a court session where the judge will rule in his corruption case in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Peruvian former President Alejandro Toledo attends a court session where the judge will rule in his corruption case in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo attends a court session where the judge will rule in his corruption case in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo arrives for a court session where the judge will rule in his corruption case in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo attends a court session where the judge will rule in his corruption case in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Peruvian former President Alejandro Toledo attends a court session where the judge will rule in his corruption case in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
