MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ex Peruvian president spends a night in California jail for drunkenness

Toledo is wanted in Peru over allegations he received US$20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction Odebrecht

Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, who is facing extradition from the United States over corruption charges, was briefly jailed for public intoxication after getting drunk in a California restaurant, local police said on Monday.

Toledo, 73, was arrested at the eatery near Palo Alto on Sunday, and spent the night in a cell before being freed early Monday, San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade reported.

Toledo is wanted in Peru over allegations he received US$20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction Odebrecht, as part of a wide ranging corruption scandal implicating high-level politicians in Peru and in the rest of Latin American countries.

But Blankswade confirmed Toledo, who led Peru from 2001 to 2016, would not be extradited following his arrest.

And the Peruvian Foreign Ministry confirmed the arrest had “nothing to do with the ongoing extradition process.”