Peru officials to visit Costa Rica in scandal probe of accounts linked to ex-President Toledo

Peru’s chief prosecutor, José Peláez Bardales, said on Tuesday that he is likely to travel to Costa Rica to meet with local Chief Prosecutor Jorge Chavarría to gather information on a company linked to former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo’s mother-in-law.

Peláez said he will travel in about two weeks, and an official from the Embezzlement Investigation Office would accompany him, news agency Andina reported.

The investigation into what’s become known as the “Ecoteva Case” centers on a corporation established in Costa Rica by Toledo’s mother-in-law, Eva Fernenbug, which was used to buy a house and an office building in Perú.

Peláez added that investigators also will discuss an alleged donation of funds from senator and businessman Dominican Felix Bautista to Toledo during his election campaign in 2011.

The Costa Rican Prosecutor’s Office in June ordered the freezing of a $6.5 million bank account belonging to a corporation administered by people close to Toledo, although the former president said on his Facebook page that he does not own any bank accounts in Costa Rica, disputing earlier news reports.