Paulo, money which was later characterized in the media as, and suspected by Peruvian prosecutors to be, a kickback from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. Because García reported and paid taxes on each payment he received, and multiple organizations were willing to pay him to have him as speaker, his defense and lawyers were optimistic that they could show that the payments did not constitute bribery. In 2016 and 2017, five of García's former ministers were accused of corruption by the Peruvian justice system: Yehude Simon (Prime Minister), Rosario Fernández (Minister of Justice), Mercedes Cabanillas (Minister of the Interior), Ántero Flores Aráoz (Minister of Defence), and Luis Nava Guibert (Minister of Production). In November 2018, García was banned from leaving Peru by the courts due to the Odebrecht scandal investigation. He entered the residence of the Uruguayan ambassador on 17 November, requesting asylum. Thus, on 18 November, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru reported that the ambassador of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay had communicated the entry of the former president to his residence and the request for diplomatic asylum. The Minister of Relations Uruguayan Foreign Ministry, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, reported that Uruguay had decided to process the asylum application. On 20 November, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry delivered a diplomatic note to the Uruguayan ambassador, Carlos Barros, on the request for diplomatic asylum presented by Alan García, expressing the position of the Peruvian government and denying the existence of political persecution. However, on 3 December his request was denied, and he subsequently left the ambassador's residence. On January 4, 2019, García appeared before the prosecutor's office as a witness to testify in the investigation carried out against Miguel Atala (former vice president of PetroPerú), for having received a bribe from the Odebrecht company. The scandal also led to arrests, where possible, of all of the other living former presidents of Peru who had served since 2000: Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Ollanta Humala, and Alejandro Toledo. Suicide On 17 April 2019, García shot himself in the head while hiding in his bedroom as he was being presented with a ten-day preliminary arrest warrant related to investigations for corruption and bribes his presidential secretary allegedly received from Odebrecht. Initial reports stated that officers had violated protocol, allowing García to be alone with the excuse that he was going to talk with his lawyer. He was taken to the Casimiro Ulloa hospital and