LIMA, Peru — Peru’s attorney general’s office on Tuesday said that the U.S. State Department had granted the extradition of former President Alejandro Toledo, to be tried in Lima over graft allegations.
Toledo, who lives in California, is wanted in Peru for allegedly negotiating bribes with the Brazilian conglomerate then known as Odebrecht, when he was president between 2001 and 2006. The allegations are part of a sprawling web of graft that became known as the Car Wash, involving Odebrecht’s operations in much of Latin America.
Toledo, 76, an economist, was the first elected president after the fall of Alberto Fujimori, and presided over a period of particularly fast economic growth. He has denied the charges of money laundering and collusion.
Odebrecht is now known as OEC Engenharia & Construcao.
A U.S. judge had already cleared Toledo’s extradition in September 2021, but the matter still required State Department approval.
The extradition would cap a years-long process that saw Toledo wanted in Peru while residing near the Stanford University campus. He is a Stanford graduate and later worked there.
The Peruvian office of the attorney general, which made the announcement on Twitter, did not say when Toledo might return to Peru.
Toledo is among a long list of former Peruvian presidents who have been investigated or charged for graft allegations in recent years.
