Extradition of former Peruvian President Toledo authorized
The final decision on the extradition to Peru of Alejandro Toledo, placed under house arrest in California, now rests with the US government.
Alejandro Toledo is suspected of having received 20 million dollars (18.5 million francs) in bribes from the Odebrecht group.
AFP
A federal court in California on Tuesday authorized the extradition of former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo to his country, where he is being prosecuted over a large corruption case. Alejandro Toledo, 75, ruled Peru from 2001 to 2006 and is accused by Lima of corruption in connection with the Brazilian construction group Odebrecht. The former head of state resided in California, where he was arrested in July 2019.
In May 2018, Peru transmitted to the United States an extradition request concerning Alejandro Toledo, suspected of having received 20 million dollars (18.5 million francs) in bribes from the Odebrecht group. for the highway construction market. The ex-president denied these accusations.
The Brazilian construction group is at the heart of a vast scandal in the Peruvian political class and in Latin America. The federal court which considered the extradition request “considers sufficient evidence of collusion and money laundering”, according to a decision rendered Tuesday by Judge Thomas Hixson.
“Political persecution”
Now that justice has given the green light, the final decision on the extradition of Alejandro Toledo, placed under house arrest in California, rests with the US government. “We welcome the judgment of Judge Hixson which confirms the position of the Peruvian State on the extradition of Alejandro Toledo so that he can be tried in our country”, reacted on Twitter the Peruvian Minister of Justice, Anibal Torres.
According to the American authorities, Odebrecht distributed for more than a decade a total of 788 million dollars (732 million francs) in a dozen Latin American countries in order to win contracts. The company admitted to paying $ 29 million (27 million francs) in bribes in Peru between 2005 and 2014.
A personal friend of Alejandro Toledo, businessman Josef Maiman, told Peruvian justice that the ex-president had received from Odebrecht, through him, not 20 but 35 million dollars (32, 5 million francs). A former manager of the construction firm in Peru, Jorge Barata, has also implicated Alejandro Toledo in this corruption case. The former president claims for his part that his accusers are lying and says he is a victim of “political persecution”.
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