Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo arrived in Lima on Sunday, extradited by the United States to face corruption and money laundering charges in the Odebrecht case, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison .
Mr. Toledo, 77, who governed Peru from 2001 to 2006, had been wanted by Peruvian justice since 2018. He arrived from Los Angeles under the surveillance of Interpol agents, who then handed him over to Peruvian police and prosecutors, according to images broadcast by Peruvian television.
He is accused of having received tens of millions of dollars from the Brazilian construction group Odebrecht, at the heart of a vast scandal in South America, in exchange for obtaining public contracts.
On Friday, Mr. Toledo, who had resided for years in the United States, went to a court in San José, California, to be imprisoned for extradition, after having exhausted all possible appeals against this decision.
Once he has appeared before a judge and also undergoes a medical examination, Mr. Toledo must be incarcerated in Barbadillo prison, located inside the barracks of the Police’s Special Operations Directorate, where also imprisoned ex-presidents Pedro Castillo (2021-2022) and Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000).
He will be kept there for up to 18 months in preventive detention pending the opening of his trial.
The ex-president was arrested in 2019 in the United States, where he resided after working at Stanford University. Initially imprisoned, he was then placed under house arrest at his home in San Francisco, with the obligation to wear an electronic bracelet.
Claiming his innocence, he tried numerous remedies to avoid extradition. The last possible appeal was rejected on Thursday.
Mr. Toledo is part of a list of former Peruvian heads of state prosecuted or convicted of corruption in various cases: Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018 ), Martin Vizcarra (2018-2020) and Pedro Castillo (2021-2022).
04/23/2023 17:09:25 – Lima (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
