Peru's ex-President shoots himself before arrest

LIMA - Peru’s former President Alan García has shot himself as police came to arrest him, media reports and police sources say.

Casimiro Ulloa hospital in the capital, Lima, said he was in surgery where he was being treated for “a bullet wound to his head.”

García is accused of taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht - claims he denies.

Officers had been sent to arrest him in connection with the allegations. García served as president from 1985 to 1990 and again from 2006 to 2011.

Investigators say he took kickbacks from Odebrecht during his second term in office, linked to a metro line building project in the capital.

Odebrecht has admitted paying almost $30m in bribes in Peru since 2004.

Odebrecht is a Brazilian construction giant behind major infrastructure projects around the world, including venues for the 2016 Olympics and 2014 World Cup home country.

But under the glare of anti-corruption investigators the company admitted paying bribes in more than half of the countries in Latin America, as well as in Angola and Mozambique in Africa. in its

Investigators say Odebrecht bribed officials or electoral candidates in exchange for lucrative building contracts.

The corruption scandal has brought down politicians throughout Latin America

Peru’s four most recent presidents are all being investigated for alleged corruption, with a fifth - Alberto Fujimori - serving a prison sentence for corruption and human rights abuses.