LIMA, Peru (AP) – Peruvian Attorney General Pablo Sanchez said Tuesday he will seek the arrest of former President Alejandro Toledo on charges of laundering of assets and influence trafficking.
Prosecutors have been investigating Toledo on suspicion of receiving as much as $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm in exchange for permission to build a highway connecting Brazil with the Peruvian coast. Sanchez told a local radio station that he would seek Toledo’s arrest.
Toledo was believed to be in Paris. He has denied any wrongdoing in interviews with news media.
The move came after police searched Toledo’s home in Lima on Saturday.
Authorities in Peru and throughout Latin America have been moving fast to charge officials accused of taking some $800 million in bribes that Odebrecht acknowledged paying in a plea agreement signed in December with the U.S. Justice Department.
The bribes, used to win business in 12 countries, include some $29 million in Peru for projects built during the administrations of Toledo (2001-2006), Alan Garcia (2006-2011) and Ollanta Humala (2011-2016). So far three officials from Garcia’s government have been arrested.