LIMA, Peru (AP) — 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.