BY LUCIEN O. CHAUVIN
Special to The Herald

LIMA - Already Latin America's least popular president, Peru's Alejandro Toledo faces a growing list of corruption allegations against him, his wife, siblings and a top aide that could further undermine his government.

As Toledo enters the fourth year of his five-year term, he faces allegations that he took a bribe from a Colombian company and that his party, Peru Posible, forged some of the signatures it needed to register for elections in 2000.

He has denied both allegations, but a recent survey by APOYO, the country's top polling firm, found that 76 percent of people aware of the bribe accusation believed it was true. The poll also put his popularity at 8 percent.

Toledo also has had to juggle accusations of malfeasance by his siblings, as well as charges of wrongdoing by first lady Eliane Karp.

The onslaught of charges and the general perception that the administration is corrupt is a bitter pill for Toledo, who shot to the top of Peru's politics by promising to wage a frontal war on corruption.

BEER BRIBE

The bribery scandal involves allegations that one of Toledo's top advisors, Cesar Almeyda, took cash from Colombian beer giant Bavaria to smooth the way for Bavaria's buyout of Peru's only brewer.

Almeyda, who was arrested in January on separate charges for meddling in the judiciary, was a board member of Peru's Securities Exchange Commission. He has also served as Toledo's lawyer and head of his National Security Council.

Hugo Duran, a chauffeur working for a public relations firm hired by Almeyda, claims that Bavaria paid a $2 million bribe, half of which was funneled into a foreign bank account in Toledo's name. Duran has agreed to be a prosecution witness in the case.

Bavaria has flatly denied that it paid any bribes.

In another scandal, Karp is alleged to have used a Panamanian bank account in Almeyda's name to receive payments for consulting work she performed after her husband was in office. The opposition wants to know why she chose this way of getting paid.

While damaging, the bribery scandal is not as painful for Toledo as the charges that his party forged the signatures it needed to register for the 2000 elections against now disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori. Toledo's sister Margarita allegedly organized the fraud.

The fraud allegations mirror the first major scandal to rock Fujimori's administration as he prepared to run for a third term in 2000. His party, Peru 2000, forged signatures to register his candidacy.

Fujimori went on to win the contest after Toledo, the underdog in the race, alleged fraud and pulled out of the race. Fujimori fled to Japan in November 2000 to escape prosecution on a wide array of corruption charges.

BIZARRE TWISTS

The accusations against Peru Posible have taken a series of bizarre twists. The principal witness in the case, Carmen Burga, later retracted her story and claimed she was pressured by opposition lawmakers to muddy Toledo's name. She disappeared after videotaping her retraction.

She received several passports for her and family members shortly after changing her story. The head of the immigration service was replaced after information surfaced that Burga's passport was expedited in a matter of minutes.

Peru Posible lawmakers in Congress deny the accusations, but also allege that any investigation into signature fraud should encompass all the parties that ran in the 2000 elections. Under former electoral laws, parties had to present approximately 1.2 million signatures to register for elections. The number has been reduced to 1 percent of eligible voters, or 130,000 signatures.

As prosecutors and congressional commissions investigate the allegations, opposition lawmakers are again calling on Toledo to step down or face impeachment hearings. He could face a much tougher time in Congress shortly if the opposition takes control of the legislature from Peru Posible in leadership elections next week.

''The evidence of corruption against Toledo is so overwhelming that he must be forced to step down now. He is so concerned about protecting himself that he is no longer governing. Peru does not have the luxury to have a president like this for two more years,'' opposition congressman Rafael Rey said.