Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) could be handed over this Friday to the Peruvian authorities in compliance with the extradition process already approved by the United States, said Justice Minister José Tello.
“It could be the same Friday, when he turns himself in, he is already available,” Tello said Wednesday on the N television channel.
The minister ruled on this issue after California Judge Thomas Hixson ordered that Toledo surrender to the bailiffs next Friday at 9:00 a.m. local time on the west coast of the United States (4:00 p.m. GMT), so that he can be extradited to Peru. , where he is accused of corruption in the Odebrecht case.
Tello pointed out, in this regard, that the exact moment of the delivery to the Peruvian authorities “is a matter that goes to the coordination that is being done now to go see Mr. Toledo.”
He added, however, that this will take place “in the event that (Toledo) stops using delaying mechanisms and turns himself in to the United States justice and, therefore, the United States government can complete the extradition process.”
“Alejandro Toledo has an extradition file, he obviously has to be dealt with here and answer for that file, he will have to appear in the proceedings and, without a doubt, appear before the Peruvian justice system,” he remarked.
The minister declined to pronounce directly on the accusations of corruption that are made against the ex-governor because, according to what he said, this is an issue “that corresponds to the Peruvian Justice.”
According to Judge Hixson’s resolution, Toledo must go to the Robert F. Peckham building, headquarters of the Northern District of California Court, in the city of San José (California) at the set time on Friday and will be “detained in a jail, where will remain until it has been handed over to the Peruvian authorities”.
The former president, 77 years old and resident of San Francisco, should have been arrested for his extradition on April 7 but managed to delay the process through various legal resources.
In this regard, his lawyer in Lima, Roberto Su, told the RPP radio station that Toledo “is made available on Friday as ordered by Judge Hixson (…) so that the extradition process can continue.”
Toledo was arrested in 2019 in California and spent 8 months in prison for risk of flight, although he was placed under house arrest in March 2020, with the start of the covid-19 pandemic.
Last September, the US Justice gave the green light for his extradition to Peru, having found sufficient evidence to justify this measure, which was endorsed last February by the State Department.
Specifically, he is being investigated for allegedly committing the crimes of money laundering, collusion and influence peddling, for allegedly having received some 34 million dollars from the Brazilian company Odebrecht to deliver the construction of the Interoceanic Highway between Peru and Brazil.
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