Ex-president Toledo returns to Peru after US extradition
Peruvian authorities have accused Alejandro Toledo of receiving millions of dollars in exchange for public works.
Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo has returned to Peru from the United States to face charges of money laundering and corruption while in office.
The 77-year-old, who served as Peru’s president from 2001 to 2006, is wanted by Peruvian prosecutors investigating a widespread scandal involving Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht.
He is accused of receiving millions of dollars from Odebrecht in exchange for public works contracts.
Official footage shared by Peruvian authorities showed Toledo arriving at Lima airport on Sunday. Toledo turned himself in for extradition on Friday.
Peruvian authorities have accused Toledo of receiving $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for winning the Interoceanica Sur highway contract.
He denies charges of corruption by prosecutors, who have charged money laundering and conspiracy, among others, and have sought a 20-year prison sentence.
Toledo still at the airport
Al Jazeera correspondent Mariana Sanchez, reporting from Callao in Peru, said Toledo remained at the airport and was expected to be transported to prison later on Sunday.
“He will not be taken to the courthouse, which was the previous plan in the center of the capital,” she said. “Instead, the top prosecutor in the country is here at the airport with the former president. They are probably also talking to the lawyer.”
She said some of Toledo’s supporters had arrived at the airport in solidarity with the former president.
Toledo’s extradition process began in 2018. He was declared a fugitive in his country last year when he traveled to the US as part of corruption investigations against him.
Toledo – an economist by profession, with a PhD from Stanford University in the US – became the second former Peruvian president to be extradited. His predecessor, President Alberto Fujimori, was extradited from Chile and is serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights violations.
Meanwhile, former President Pedro Castillo is in pre-trial detention as he faces “rebellion” charges after he attempted to illegally dissolve Congress in December.
Former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is also under investigation in the Odebrecht case and was under house arrest, while ex-President Alan Garcia shot himself in the head in 2019 to avoid arrest and died in hospital.