Peru prosecutors arrive in Costa Rica in ongoing probe of ex-President Alejandro Toledo

Peru’s Chief Prosecutor José Peláez arrived Tuesday in Costa Rica along with two other prosecutors to collect evidence related to a case of alleged corruption involving former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo.

Peláez will meet with Costa Rica’s Chief Prosecutor Jorge Chavarría to obtain information related to money laundering investigations conducted in the country of at least three Costa Rica-based corporations created by people linked to Toledo, including his mother-in-law, a Belgian citizen named Eva Fernenbug.

Last week, Peláez told the Peruvian daily El Comercio that his trip to Costa Rica will focus on determining the origins of a corporation called Ecoteva Consulting Group, as well as the source of funds used by Fernenbug to acquire two properties in Lima, costing some $5 million.

One of the most important pieces of evidence that Peruvian prosecutors seek in the country is the testimony of a local notary who allegedly stated that Toledo “asked him to create the Ecoteva corporation.” Prosecutors believe the ex-president, who served from 2001-2006, also was involved in the creation of another corporation named Ecostate Consulting.

Investigators will conduct interviews of two people listed as board members of Ecoteva: Claudia Centeno, a domestic employee, and a security guard named José Alfaro.

In May, Toledo told a radio station in his country that he will authorize prosecutors to lift all banking secrecy in the case.

“I will collaborate, even though I have nothing to do [with the property purchases],” Toledo said in a telephone interview from the United States, where he currently works as a professor at Stanford University. “I will return to Lima soon to give a full statement to the Prosecutor’s Office.”