United States Court of Appeals suspended the extradition of former president Alejandro Toledo to Peru for 14 daysaccused of corruption as part of the Odebrecht conspiracy, local media reported.
Decision of Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, located in San Francisco, Californiais temporarily halting the warrant that was burdening Toledo so he turned himself in to authorities this Friday to proceed with the extradition.
Toledo’s defense asked for a 14-day suspension on Thursday give time for the court to hear the politician’s appeal.
Former president of Peru (2001-2006), living in San Francisco, has been waging a legal battle to prevent his extradition to his country since he was arrested by US authorities in 2019.
Toledo, 77, was arrested in 2019 in California and spent 8 months in jail for being a flight risk, although transferred to house arrest in March 2020with the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic.
Last September, a US court gave the go-ahead for his extradition to Peru.after finding enough evidence to justify this measure, which was approved by the State Department last February.
Toledo He is accused in his country of having received 34 million dollars from the Brazilian construction company Odebrechtthrough a network of companies in tax havens through which he acquired properties worth millions in Peru.
More specifically, Toledo is under investigation for allegedly committing criminal acts of money laundering, collusion and trading in influencein connection with the contracts awarded to Odebrecht for the construction of the Interoceanic Route between Brazil and Peru.
The Odebrecht case the biggest corruption scandal in Latin Americahe also slammed former Peruvian presidents Alan García (1985-1990 and 2006-2011), Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018), as well as three-time presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori , daughter and successor policy of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000).
Source: Panama America
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
