Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on Sunday confirming that the former president Alan García requested political asylum in the Uruguayan embassy just hours after a judge prohibited him from leaving the country.

Garcia allegedly accepted bribes from Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company, in exchange for government contracts to build the Metro Line 1 train in Lima.

The court ordered him to stay in Uruguay for 18 months until the investigation is completed.

In the letter Garcia sent to President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay, he asked to remain in the country until political persecution in his country ended.

This is his second time applying for political asylum. In 1992 García sought asylum at Colombia’s embassy in Lima during the investigation into the corruption surrounding his first term in office.

Uruguay has since accepted García’s request for asylum.