Peru’s former president surrenders to U.S. federal brokers

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo Manrique surrendered to U.S. federal brokers Friday to be extradited to Peru, the place he faces prices of accepting hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in bribes as a part of a mammoth corruption scandal during which 4 of Peru’s ex-presidents have been implicated.

Toledo’s give up ends a yearslong authorized battle in opposition to his extradition, which began in 2019 when he was arrested at his residence in Menlo Park, California. Federal prosecutors have mentioned Peruvian officers will journey to Northern California to choose up Toledo and fly him again to Peru. It’s not instantly identified when that can occur.

Toledo, who was Peru’s president from 2001 to 2006, is accused of taking not less than $20 million in bribes from Odebrecht, an enormous Brazilian building firm that has admitted to U.S. authorities that it bribed officers to win contracts all through Latin America for many years. He has denied the costs.

He had sought a keep on his extradition, pending a authorized problem to the U.S. State Department’s determination to ship him again to Peru, however a court docket of appeals denied his newest movement this week and a federal choose ordered him to give up.

After his arrest, Toledo was initially held in solitary confinement on the Santa Rita Jail about 40 miles (60 kilometers) east of San Francisco, however was launched in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and his deteriorating psychological well being. He was held below home arrest after that.

Toledo has been dwelling in California since 2016 when he returned to Stanford University, his alma mater, as a visiting scholar to check schooling in Latin America. His ties to the San Francisco Bay Area return to the Nineteen Seventies when he was an undergraduate pupil on the University of San Francisco after which a graduate pupil at Stanford University.

Toledo, 77, is considered one of 4 ex-presidents linked to the Odebrecht corruption scandal that has shaken Peru’s politics, with almost each dwelling former president now on trial or below investigation.

Former President Ollanta Humala is standing trial on prices that he and his spouse acquired over $3 million from Odebrecht for his presidential campaigns in 2006 and 2011. Both have denied any wrongdoing.

Ex-leader Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who left workplace in 2018, is below home arrest for related prices.