Peru’s ex-President Toledo surrenders to face extradition from US
Alejandro Toledo is about to be extradited to Peru to face bribery charges in a corruption investigation.
Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo has turned himself in to US officials and is expected to be extradited to his home country to face charges of taking millions of dollars in bribes from a Brazilian company.
Friday’s surrender represents the end of a years-long legal battle that began when Toledo was arrested in July 2019 at his home in Menlo Parlo, California, after prosecutors in Peru sought his extradition as part of the corruption scandal.
He is accused of accepting at least $20 million in bribes from Odebrecht, a giant Brazilian construction company that has admitted to US authorities that it spent decades bribing officials to win contracts across Latin America.
Toledo, the president of Peru from 2001 to 2006, has denied the allegations and requested that his extradition be postponed. However, a US appeals court this week denied his latest motion and a federal judge ordered him to surrender.
Toledo was released under house arrest after his first US arrest.
Federal prosecutors said Peruvian officials will travel to Northern California to pick up Toledo and fly him back to Peru.
Silvana Carrion, the local prosecutor handling the case, told local television channel Canal N that Toledo will be moved to Peru’s capital, Lima, in two to three days.
The Peruvian prosecution is seeking a 20-year prison sentence against the former president.
Toledo, 77, is one of four ex-presidents linked to the Odebrecht corruption scandal, meaning nearly every living former president in the country with more than 33 million now on trial or under investigation.
Former President Ollanta Humala is currently on trial on charges that he and his wife received more than $3 million from Odebrecht for his 2006 and 2011 presidential campaigns. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
Former leader Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who left office in 2018, is under house arrest for similar charges.
Former President Alan Garcia, in office from 2006 to 2011, fatally shot himself in the head in 2019 when police arrived at his home to arrest him.