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Los Angeles (AFP) – The former president of Peru Alejandro Toledo, required by the justice of his country, must surrender this Friday before a United States court to begin his extradition process.
Toledo, in house arrest in California, is accused in Lima of corruption and money laundering in the framework of the Odebrecht case.
The 77-year-old former president denies the accusations and has filed several petitions to block the extradition that Peru has been seeking since 2018 and that Washington authorized in February.
The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously denied his latest legal challenge Tuesday.
Consequently, this Wednesday a California judge ordered the politician who ruled Peru between 2001 and 2006 to surrender to justice.
“Toledo will be interned in a suitable jail, where he will remain until he is handed over to the Peruvian authorities,” judge Thomas Hixson of the Northern District of California ruled.
Toledo’s defense “declared that it will not seek further adjournments from the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court,” Hixson wrote.
The former president must turn himself in on Friday at 9 in the morning (local time) at the San José Courthouse, about 40 kilometers from Menlo Park, where the former president resides with his wife, Eliane Karp.
“We are ready”
Judge Hixson led a virtual hearing in which Toledo participated along with his lawyer Mara Goldman and representatives of the US judicial system.
Toledo, dressed in a light blue shirt, asked to delay the delivery day to April 25 due to medical commitments, but the representative of the US government, Kyle Waldinger, asked not to delay the process any longer.
“We are ready to transfer Dr. Toledo to Peru to comply with the court order,” he said.
“There is not a good time under his medical regimen to be extradited,” Judge Hixson said at the hearing. And he added: “In light of this, I am going to agree with the Government and order that Dr. Toledo turn himself in on Friday, April 21, at the San José court.”
The former president had moved to the United States, where he had a residence after having studied and worked at Stanford University.
Following the accusations and the extradition request from Lima, Toledo was arrested in 2019 in California, and the following year, he was placed in house arrest.
Links to the Odebrecht case
Lima accuses him of having received millions of dollars from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for public works tenders.
Peruvian prosecutors are asking for 20 years and six months in jail.
Odebrecht recognized the payment of bribes in Brazil and other countries in the region in the framework of the Lava Jato scandal, for which dozens of Latin American politicians and businessmen are imprisoned.
In the case of Toledo, the testimonies of his former collaborator, Josef Maiman, and Jorge Barata, former Odebrecht representative in Peru, have been key. Both claim that the former president received the bribes.
Four other former Peruvian presidents face legal proceedings for corruption: Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), Martín Vizcarra (2018-2020) and Pedro Castillo (2021-2022).
Former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) was also convicted of corruption, in addition to crimes against humanity, and Alan García (2006-2011) committed suicide in 2019, when the police were about to arrest him on suspicion of being linked to the case. odebrecht.
Toledo’s lawyers did not respond to AFP’s inquiries.
with AFP
