International Writing (EFE).- Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), who this Friday must surrender to the United States authorities to be extradited to Peru, is accused in his country of receiving tens of millions of dollars in bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for favoring it in its business in Peru when he was still president.
Toledo, 77, was arrested in 2019 in California (USA) and spent eight months in prison, although he was placed under house arrest in March 2020, due to the pandemic. In September 2022, the US Justice approved his extradition, which the State Department granted on February 21, but which the former president managed to delay through various legal resources.
humble origins
Born on March 28, 1946 in the Andean town of Cabana, in the department of Ancash, Toledo, he is the fourth of 16 siblings from a humble family that emigrated to Chimbote, on the north coast of Peru, in the 1950s.
During his primary studies he worked as a shoe shine and street vendor, and in 1966 he obtained a scholarship to study Economics in the US, at the University of San Francisco, to which he later added a doctorate from Stanford University.
His political career began in 1995 with a presidential nomination in which he only received 3.3 percent of the vote.
He ran again in 2000, with the Perú Posible party (of which he was founder and president), being the most voted in the first round with 40%. However, he did not appear at the second, claiming fraud on the part of Alberto Fujimori. In the following months he was one of the standard-bearers of the street fight that led to his fall, leading the march of “the four of them.”
President from 2001 to 2006
In 2001 new elections were held in which Toledo prevailed over Alan García in the second round; and he assumed the Presidency in July.
During his government, he pulled Peru out of recession and managed to make the economy grow steadily, but he was unable to extinguish the social discontent that was expressed in frequent protests throughout the country. In addition, his popularity was declining coinciding with scandals in his personal life -among them, the unrecognized paternity of a girl- and allegations of corruption against people around him.
After his departure from the Presidency, he faced an investigation by Congress for alleged irregularities during his administration and, in December 2006, he was prosecuted for a crime of corruption related to the falsification of signatures for the registration of his party in the 2000 elections. .
He resumed teaching at Stanford University, focusing on his foundation, the Global Center for Democracy Development (CGDD). But, he ran again in the 2011 presidential elections, although he did not manage to go to the second round, in which he supported Ollanta Humala, who finally won the Presidency.
Investigated for corruption
In 2013 Toledo and his wife, Eliane Karp, were investigated in connection with some million-dollar real estate purchases made by his mother-in-law, Eva Fernenbug, with money from the Ecoteva company. The following year, the Prosecutor’s Office considered that they had not committed the crime of illicit enrichment, but ordered that investigations be carried out for alleged money laundering. In April 2016, a court in Lima opened a trial for Toledo, his wife, and other people for this case.
In February 2017, a Peruvian judge issued a national and international arrest warrant against him, accused of money laundering and influence peddling for allegedly having received up to 35 million dollars from Odebrecht, in exchange for favoring this company in its business in Peru. when he was president. In addition, the Peruvian government included him on the list of the most wanted criminals and offered a reward for information leading to his capture.
In February 2018, Peru requested his extradition from the US and in April 2019, the former superintendent of Odebrecht in Peru, Jorge Barata, declared that Toledo received bribes from the construction company.
Arrested in the US
He was arrested in July 2019 in California and spent eight months in prison when the judge assessed the risk of flight, although in March 2020, with the outbreak of the pandemic, he was placed under house arrest.
In April 2021, Peru approved requesting for the second time the extradition of Toledo and his wife for the Ecoteva case. In September, US judge Thomas Hixson endorsed Toledo’s repatriation to Peruvian territory, leaving the final decision in the hands of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
To try to stop the extradition, he requested “habeas corpus”, which was denied in April 2022, and then filed an appeal, which was dismissed in October.
On February 21, the US State Department granted his extradition to Peru for the crimes of collusion and money laundering.
An appeal filed by his defense was rejected and his arrest was ordered on April 7, but the same day Judge Hixson struck down the order after an appeals court agreed to delay extradition. The US Justice reactivated the arrest warrant on April 19 and the following day rejected a last resort by Toledo to stop it.
Odebrecht bribes
Toledo is accused of receiving millionaire bribes from the Brazilian Odebrecht in exchange for favoring it in its business in Peru, when he was president. Specifically, he has been investigated for contracts awarded to Odebrecht for the construction of the interoceanic route, which crosses southern Peruvian territory, from the Pacific Ocean to the border with Brazil.
The Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office has requested for him sentences of 20 years and 6 months in jail for the South Interoceanic Highway case, sections two and three; 16 years and 8 months for money laundering in the Ecoteva case; and 35 years for the case related to the concession of section 4 of the Interoceanic Highway. The Prosecutor’s Office also requested, in March 2023, the expropriation of Toledo’s real estate and his family environment.
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