Former First Lady of Peru flees to Israel

By WorldIsraelNews.com Staff

Eliane Karp Toledo, Peru’s former Jewish First Lady, has avoided an extradition request and fled to Israel from the U.S., prompting outrage in her home country.

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola told reporters in Lima: “The United States Department of Justice has informed the Peruvian embassy in the U.S. that Mrs. Eliane Karp has taken a flight to Israel using her Israeli passport.”

“Our Foreign Ministry will diligently monitor this case and ensure that Eliane Karp fulfills her obligation to appear before the Peruvian judiciary, which has accused her of committing the crime of money laundering,” he said.

Peru does not have an extradition treaty with Israel.

Karp, who was first lady of Peru from 2001 to 2006, has outstanding warrant for her arrest in an embezzlement case involving the purchase of high-value real estate in the name of her mother, Eva Fernerburg, a Holocaust survivor. Authorities believe the money used to buy the assets came from bribes.

In April, Toledo was extradited from the United States to Lima, where he is now in prison for accepting tens of millions of dollars in bribes in return for work contracts, including from Brazil’s Odebrecht construction company, which was approved to construct the second and third stretches of the Interoceanic Highway.

In 2017, Israel denied entry to Toledo.