US grants Peru’s ex-president Toledo freedom on $1M bail

SAN FRANCISCO, Mar 20, 2020, ANDINA. The United States Justice on Thursday decided to release former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) on bail worth US$1 million —after having denied it twice— considering that the circumstances have changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which poses a risk to his health, ANDINA reported.

The EFE agency reported that —in an extraordinary hearing held by phone— Judge Thomas Hixson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered that Toledo be released and immediately confined to his home in the San Francisco Bay Area (where there is a mandatory confinement order) under a GPS surveillance system.

Toledo will leave the Maguire Prison in San Mateo County once his relatives and friends post a bond of $500,000 in cash, and his wife Eliane Karp turns over the passport to authorities.

Although the initial amount to get out of jail is $500,000, the total stands at US$1 million. The other half will be provided by acquaintances with real estate properties based in the United States. That process can take several weeks.

Toledo is wanted by the Peruvian justice to face an investigation into the alleged bribes worth US$35 million paid by Brazilian company Odebrecht over the concession for the development of the South Interoceanic Highway during his term in office (2001-2006).

The former politician is immersed in an extradition proceeding.

He has spent the last three years fugitive from Peruvian Justice in the U.S. Before being detained and sent to jail, he used to live with his wife in Menlo Park, California.