Ex-Peru President Charged With Corruption Wins Bail in U.S.
Ex-Peru President Held in U.S. Custody to Be Released on Bail
(Bloomberg) -- Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo should be let out of jail in California while fighting his country’s request to extradite him on corruption charges, a federal judge said.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said special circumstances warranted the release of Toledo, who is wanted by Peru on charges that he received $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht S/A.
The 73-year-old has been held in solitary confinement in a county jail about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of San Francisco since his arrest three months ago.
Chhabria noted a psychiatrist’s report that solitary confinement had “already initiated a marked decline in Toledo’s mental health.” The judge also said in a four-page ruling that the ex-president’s detention is likely to last for months, if not years, as his extradition case plays out in the courts.
"The combination of the anticipated length of the proceedings and the conditions of Toledo’s confinement creates a special circumstance that qualifies Toledo for release,” the judge wrote.
Toledo, a once celebrated reform politician, served as Peru’s president from 2001 to 2006. U.S. marshals arrested him on July 16 at his home in the Silicon Valley city of Menlo Park. In a search of the house, they reportedly found a suitcase stuffed with $40,000 in cash.
In September, a magistrate judge rejected Toledo’s request for bail, saying he represented too great of a flight risk.
Chhabria ordered Toledo released from jail on Oct. 22 but put his ruling on hold until that date to give federal prosecutors time to file an appeal or persuade him to sign off on “an alternative detention arrangement.”
Under the conditions of his release, Toledo must post a $1 million bond, remain under “home lockdown” and wear a GPS monitoring device.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg
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