CONFLICTS

Peru judge orders arrest of ex-president in corruption case

Associated Press
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FILE - In this March 17, 2011 file photo, Peru's former President Alejandro Toledo campaigns for reelection at the Santa Anita wholesale market in Lima, Peru. A Peruvian judge ordered Toledo's arrest on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017 on suspicions of taking bribes from a Brazilian construction firm at the heart of a region-wide corruption scandal. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro, File) (The Associated Press)

A man holds fake dollars and Peruvian currency during a demonstration against former president Alejandro Toledo, in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. Peruvian prosecutors opened a formal investigation into suspicions that the former president took $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) (The Associated Press)

A Peruvian judge has ordered the arrest of former President Alejandro Toledo on suspicions of taking bribes from a Brazilian construction firm at the heart of a region-wide corruption scandal.

Judge Richard Concepcion accepted prosecutors' request that Toledo be jailed as they investigate allegations he received $20 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for permission to build a highway connecting Brazil with the Peruvian coast.

Toledo is in Paris and in media interviews from abroad has denied any wrongdoing.

Odebrecht has admitted to paying almost $800 million in bribes to governments across Latin America as part of a December plea agreement with the U.S. Justice Department. In Peru, they acknowledged paying $29 million for projects built during the government of Toledo and two successors.