According to the Peruvian Prosecutor's Office, the United States Department of State approved the extradition of former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, who was president between 2001 and 2006, and must respond to his country's justice system in the coming days. 

“The Office of the Prosecutor of the Nation, as the central authority in matters of extraditions, informs that it has been learned that the Department of State of the United States of America granted the extradition of Alejandro Toledo Manríque, for the crimes of collusion and money laundering,” posted the office on its Twitter account.

La Fiscalía de la Nación, como autoridad central en materia de extradiciones, informa que se ha tomado conocimiento que el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos de América concedió la extradición de Alejandro Toledo Manríque, por los delitos de colusión y lavado de activos pic.twitter.com/aD0QGEEicT

— Ministerio Público (@FiscaliaPeru) February 22, 2023

Odebrecht's Shadow

Accused of receiving bribes from Brazilian company Odebrecht, an investigation that has spread to different Latin American countries whose leaders have been dotted with serious acts of corruption, Toledo was specifically investigated for crimes of money laundering, collusion, and trafficking influence.

The accusations are made based on the contracts awarded to the Brazilian firm for the construction of the Interoceanic Route between Brazil and Peru, a project that paid Toledo millions.

Amid the case, former presidents Alan García, Ollanta Humala and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski were also implicated, and three-time presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori.

Toledo's arrest

Toledo, who was arrested in 2019 in California, where he has resided for the last few years, was in prison for eight months because he was a flight risk. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was released and placed under house arrest in March 2020.

Despite a U.S. court giving the green light for his extradition in September last year, the final decision fell into the hands of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

According to DW, former anti-corruption attorney Ivan Meini told the local press that “what should happen, in the next few hours or days, is that the governments agree on how to articulate Toledo's return to Peru.”

Most likely, after his arrival in the country, Toledo will be sent to pretrial detention while his trial is taking place, and he will be held in a prison built on a police base in Lima where former presidents Alberto Fujimori and Pedro Castillo are also imprisoned. 

“In this regard, the Office for International Judicial Cooperation and Extraditions of the National Prosecutor's Office has been coordinating with national and foreign authorities for the next execution of his extradition,” the Public Ministry said on Twitter.

Toledo, who traveled to the United States in 2017, has always denied the accusations, citing political persecution.