Sao Paulo
The US State Department has authorized the extradition of former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, the Latin American country’s prosecutors said on Tuesday (21). The politician, who was president from 2001 to 2006, was considered a refugee.
Toledo is accused of receiving bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for approving the bid for the Interoceanic Highway linking Peru with Brazil in a Lava Jatorelated case. He is also suspected of influence trading, conspiracy and money laundering.
The former president has preventive detention orders in his home country alongside a 20year, sixmonth prison sentence handed down by Judge José Domingo Pérez in August 2020.
According to the Peruvian newspaper El Comércio, Toledo admitted receiving part of the $34 million in bribes allegedly paid by Odebrecht. However, he claims he is innocent and that the late PeruvianIsraeli businessman Josef Maiman was responsible for the negotiations, which took place without his knowledge. Maiman signed a cooperation agreement with Justice and died in October 2021.
Also under investigation is the purchase of a home and offices in the name of Toledo’s motherinlaw for around $5 million allegedly the result of money laundering. The expresident’s wife, Eliane Karp, is also the target of an arrest warrant for money laundering.
Peru has been trying to extradite the politician since 2018. In 2019, the former president was arrested in the United States, where he worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University, in an attempt to secure his return. Toledo usually says the allegations are politically motivated.
Investigations were also carried out into former Peruvian Presidents Ollanta Humala (20112016) and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (20162018), as well as Alan García (19851990 and 20062011). The last died hours after he shot himself in the head in 2019 when he learned the judiciary had asked for his 10day provisional detention.
Peru is one of the countries hardest hit by the Odebrecht corruption scandal. The company has admitted to paying nearly $800 million in bribes to governments in Latin America under a cooperation agreement with the US Department of Justice.