Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo was arrested Tuesday in California, the Peruvian Attorney General said on Twitter.
Toledo was arrested on an extradition order to bring him back to Peru, where he faces corruption charges, the Attorney General said.
On Tuesday, Toledo appeared in court where US Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson ordered he remain jailed until his next hearing, which has been scheduled for Friday morning.
The Odebrecht scandal
Toledo, who served as president of Peru from 2001 to 2006, has been implicated in the largest global scandal in modern history:the Odebrecht corruption scandal.
Based in Brazil, Odebrecht is Latin America’s largest construction firm. Between 2001 and 2006, the company dished out nearly $800 million in bribes, some of which filtered through the US.
A probe into the corruption landed many of Brazil’s most prominent politicians and business owners in jail
In February 2017, Peruvian police raided Toledo’s homefor allegedly accepting an Odebrecht bribe. He denied the charges via Twitter but went missing, later escaping to the US.