LIMA, May 23 (UPI) -- Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo is heading for the Middle East and China after avoiding criminal charges connecting him with voter fraud.
Last week lawmakers decided not to pursue Toledo, along with others implicated in the falsification of voter signatures for the last presidential election.
More than two dozen people, including a relative of the president, were accused of forging the signatures necessary to allow Toledo to run for Peru's highest office in 2000.
In December, the president's sister, Margarita, was placed under house arrest for her alleged involvement in the scandal. The Peruvian president adamantly denies his sister did anything wrong.
Toledo is leaving the scandal behind and traveling this week to several Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, the Palestinian Territories and China, on a mission to strengthen bilateral relations and promote Peru as a tourist destination, El Comerico reported in its online edition Monday.
