Corruption, Law & Justice, Lima, Politics

Ex-President Toledo arrested in California, faces extradition

Ex-President Toledo arrested in California

Alejandro Toledo, president of Peru 2001-2006, has been arrested and appeared before a judge in northern California today.  He is being held in custody until a bail hearing on Friday, July 19, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

In Lima, the Attorney General’s office said the arrest is related to the extradition case Peru has filed in the United States.

Toledo is alleged to have received $35 million in bribes during his presidency, from the Brazilian construction firms Odebrecht and Camargo Correa, to win the bids for the construction of the Peruvian sections of two major cross-continent highway projects, the Interoceanica Norte and Sur.

The former president is also under investigation for money laundering.  In March this year, an Israeli-Peruvian businessman, Josef Maiman, turned state witness and confessed he had received the $35 mn for Toledo, paid by the Brazilian companies over several years, and held in Swiss bank accounts.

Following Maiman’s confession, a second, more recent extradition request was filed last month in the U.S. by Peru, specifically on the money laundering charges. An important part of the money laundering was carried out through Ecoteva, a company set up in Costa Rica. The charges are against Toledo and, as co-defendants, his wife Eliane Karp, his former security advisor Avraham Dan On and Dan On’s son Shai Dan On. The extradition requests for the Dan Ons have been filed in Israel.

If Toledo is extradited to Peru, he will face 18 months pre-trial detention while the investigations continue and the District Attorney’s office prepares the trial.

Investigations into Toledo’s alleged corruption began before the Odebrecht scandal broke across the continent, when a few years after his presidency he bought several properties in Peru. His house was searched in 2017, at a time that he and his wife had returned to the U.S. to live near Stanford.

One Comment

  1. Bernard C Scott

    Two things are needed before the US will extradite Toledo direct proof, not just the testimony of someone who received a plea deal. Secound it has to be proven that he will receive a fair trial, the track record of Peruvian judicial system makes this highly unlikely.

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