Corruption in Peru: Former President Alejandro Toledo, closer to his extradition from the United States

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Peru’s former president Alejandro Toledo, accused by his country’s judiciary on corruption charges, appears to have little time left in exile in the United States. This Friday it is to be delivered to a court in San Francisco, California, for start the extradition process.

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A US judge on Wednesday ordered Toledo to turn himself in to federal agents after an appeals court denied its latest motion to prevent his extradition to Peru, where he is accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes.

Toledo, under house arrest in California, is accused in Lima of corruption and money laundering in the Odebrecht case.

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The 77-year-old former president denies the allegations and has presented several requests to block the extradition that Peru has been asking for since 2018 and which Washington authorized in February.

The 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals He unanimously denied his latest legal appeal on Tuesday.

As a result, this Wednesday a California judge ordered the politician who governed Peru between 2001 and 2006 to surrender to justice.

Alejandro Toledo and his wife Eliane Karp, in a picture from 2015. Photo: REUTERS

Alejandro Toledo and his wife Eliane Karp, in a picture from 2015. Photo: REUTERS

“A Real Prison”

“Toledo will be interned in a suitable prison, where he will remain until he is handed over to the Peruvian authorities,” Judge Thomas Hixson of the Northern District of California ruled.

Toledo’s defense “has stated that it will not seek further deferments from the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court,” Hixson wrote.

The former president must turn himself in on Friday at 9 local time in the San José courthouse, about 40 kilometers from Menlo Park, where he lives with his wife, Eliane Karp.

Judge Hixson conducted a virtual hearing that Toledo attended along with his attorney Mara Goldman and representatives of the US justice system.

The search and reward notice that the Ministry of the Interior of Peru placed on its website in 2017. Photo: EFE

The search and reward notice that the Ministry of the Interior of Peru placed on its website in 2017. Photo: EFE

Toledo, dressed in a blue shirt, requested that the day of the delivery be postponed to April 25 due to medical commitments, but U.S. Government Representative Kyle Waldinger asked not to delay the process further.

“We are ready to transfer Dr. Toledo to Peru to comply with the court order,” he said.

“It’s not a good time under his medical regimen to be extradited,” Judge Hixson said at the hearing.

“In light of this, I agree with the government and will order Dr. Toledo to turn himself in on Friday, April 21 in the San José courthouse.”

The former president had moved to the United States, where he had a residence after studying and working at Stanford University.

Following the allegations and Lima’s extradition request, Toledo was arrested in 2019 in California and was placed under house arrest the following year.

Counterfeit dollars and Peruvian soles during a protest against Alejandro Toledo, in Lima in February 2017. Photo: AP

Counterfeit dollars and Peruvian soles during a protest against Alejandro Toledo, in Lima in February 2017. Photo: AP

Dark businesses and millionaires

Limes accuses him of receiving millions of dollars from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for public works contracts.

Peruvian prosecutors are asking for 20 years and six months in prison.

Odebrecht has acknowledged the payment of bribes in Brazil and other countries in the region as part of the Lava Jato scandal, for which dozens of Latin American politicians and businessmen are being jailed.

In the case of Toledo, the testimonies of his former collaborator Josef Maiman and Jorge Barata, former representative of Odebrecht in Peru, were fundamental. Both claim that the former president received the bribes.

Four other former Peruvian presidents face corruption lawsuits: Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), Martín Vizcarra (2018-2020) and Pedro Castillo (2021-2022).

Former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) has also been convicted of corruption, as well as crimes against humanity, and Alan García (2006-2011) committed suicide in 2019 when police were about to arrest him on suspicion of being involved in the case. odebrecht.

Source: AFP

Source: Clarin

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