Peru ex-president Toledo to be extradited from US

Toledo, 77, is being accused of receiving more than USD25 million from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for help in obtaining public works contracts. (File photo by Kristian George via San Francisco Foghorn/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

BOGOTA, Colombia – The former president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, who has been wanted since 2018 over charges of corruption in his country, has turned himself in to US authorities on Friday.

Friday was the deadline for Toledo to surrender to US justice before being extradited to Peru, where prosecutors are seeking to impose a 20-year prison sentence.

Toledo, 77, is being accused of receiving more than USD25 million from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for help in obtaining public works contracts.

Jorge Barata, former director of Odebrecht in Peru, testified before Peruvian prosecutors that the construction company paid USD20 million to Toledo in exchange for the award of a section of the Interoceánica Sur highway.

The contract to build this road, which links the south of Peru with Brazil, was signed in August 2005.

The former president, who served from 2001 to 2006, denied the accusations and has filed several petitions to block the extradition that Washington authorized in February.

Toledo was first arrested in California in 2019 but then was granted bail in 2020. He was ordered to liver under house arrest.

This is not the first time that Peruvian former heads of state have gone to jail.

Four other ex-presidents are facing prosecution for corruption – Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Martin Vizcarra, and Pedro Castillo. (Anadolu)