Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo M.A. ’72, ’74, Ph.D ’93 was arrested in California on Tuesday and faces an extradition order to send him back to Peru for his implication in the Odebrecht corruption scandal. 

Brazil-based Odebrecht is the largest construction company in Latin America. The company paid approximately $800 million in bribes for contracts throughout Latin America from 2001-06, the same 6 years that Toledo served as president of Peru. 

Toledo received $20 million through the scandal, and has been defying extradition orders from Peru while living in California. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford, studying education in Latin America from Sep. 1, 2016 to Aug. 31, 2017 before pursuing “a private research project as an alumni scholar until Feb. 28, 2018,” wrote Stanford spokesperson E.J. Mirana in an email to The Daily. 

“Neither title was compensated by Stanford,” Miranda wrote. “He did not teach, and he was not an employee of the University. He does not have a formal association with Stanford.”

Other former Peruvian presidents have been implicated in the Odebrecht scandal. Ex-president Alan García died by suicide during his arrest on April 17, 2018, after ex-president Pablo Kuczynski resigned as a result of the scandal on March 21, 2018. 

Contact Brian Lee at bl45983 ‘at’ pausd.us.