The United States has authorized the extradition of former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) accused of corruption in his country, the public prosecutor’s office of Peru said on Tuesday.
“We have learned that the United States Department of State has granted the extradition of Alejandro Toledo Manrique, for offenses of influence peddling and money laundering,” the prosecution said in a message on Twitter.
He said he was “coordinating” with the “national and foreign” authorities with a view to “the forthcoming execution of his extradition”.
The Peruvian public prosecutor estimates that the procedure could be completed within two months.
“No deadline has been set, but (…) we hope it will not exceed eight weeks,” Alfredo Rebaza, senior prosecutor at the Peruvian prosecutor’s office in charge of extraditions, told local radio RPP.
Mr. Toledo, 76, has resided in the United States since his term as president ended. He returned to Peru in 2011 and 2016 to run for president but was defeated.
In 2019, the ex-president was arrested in the United States for corruption in Peru. He has since been under house arrest at his California home and wears an electronic bracelet.
He is suspected 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.
Upon his arrival on Peruvian soil, he must be remanded in custody in connection with this case.
The prosecution is seeking a 20-year and 6-month prison sentence for Mr. Toledo, who admitted that Odebrecht paid at least $34 million and that he received part of this sum.
However, he claims his innocence, saying that it was a businessman now deceased, Josef Maiman, who took care of the transactions, according to Peruvian media.
The former president is part of a list of former Peruvian presidents prosecuted or convicted for corruption: Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), Martin Vizcarra (2018 -2020) and Pedro Castillo (2021-2022).
22/02/2023 10:02:21 – Lima (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
