President Toledo’s party, Peru Posible, has been accused of forging the signatures on the petition to register Mr Toledo’s party for the 2000 elections. Prosecutors in Peru have alleged Mr Toledo’s party forged almost 80% of the 520,000 signatures it used to register for the 2000 polls, which it subsequently lost, but gained a landslide victory a year later.

The accusation has prompted a barrage of witnesses to come forward to give evidence, including statements that directly implicated the President himself, although he is immune from prosecution while in office.

Margarita Toledo, the president’s sister, is under house arrest pending further police investigations into her alleged involvement in the gathering of false signatures. Her assets have been frozen along with those of twenty-five other people arrested. The head of an investigation commission has said that more than three-quarters of the one point two million signatures were faked before Mr Toledo’s party was registered for elections in 2000.

The president has agreed to cooperate fully with judicial and congressional investigations and continues to fully deny the allegations made against him. He has even claimed there is a conspiracy against his party, blaming the allegations on a smear campaign by the mafia and supporters of former president Fujimori.

A Peruvian judge will weigh the evidence against Mr Toledo to decide whether to bring the case to trial, local media report.

In the last year Peru Posible has been plagued with allegations of corruption and scandals, with the resignation of seven of Toledo’s cabinet ministers and the arrest of a former aide, accused of bribing judges.

Toledo has called on Congress to form a commission to investigate “the conspiracy against democracy” that he says is trying to bring down his government.