Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo returned to Peru today from the United States and will likely become the third head of state to be imprisoned, accused of money laundering and collusion.

Toledo denies the allegations of corruption by prosecutors, who maintain that he received US$ 35 million in bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for winning the construction of the Interoceanica Sur highway. They have requested a 20-year prison sentence.

If found guilty, Toledo —who is 77 years old — would likely serve his sentence inside a police base on the outskirts of the capital Lima, where former presidents Alberto Fujimori and Pedro Castillo are being held.

Official images shared by Peruvian authorities show Toledo arriving at Lima airport. Toledo, president between 2001 and 2006, turned himself in on Friday for extradition.

The extradition process began in 2018. Toledo had been declared a fugitive in his country the previous year when he traveled to the United States amid corruption investigations against him and former collaborators.

Toledo, an economist by profession and with a doctorate from Stanford University in the United States, became the second former Peruvian president to be extradited. Fujimori was extradited from Chile in 2007 and is serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, Castillo is in pre-trial detention while being investigated over allegations of “rebellion” after trying to illegally dissolve Congress in December.

“We have this sad record of three former presidents in jail,” criminal lawyer Carlos Caro said. “There is no precedent in the region or anywhere else in the world.”

—Reuters/Herald