Plea deal triggers major corruption probe into Colombia's congress
Six congressmen allegedly involved in kick-back crime group
by Adriaan Alsema July 4, 2023
The conviction of a former Liberal Party senator triggered criminal investigations into six members of Colombia’s Congress.
The criminal investigations also implicate at least six mayors, the former deputy director of the government’s public investment agencies and the senate’s former human resources chief.
The aforementioned officials and former officials allegedly teamed up with convicted former Senator Mario Castaño in order to receive kickbacks for investments made by the government of former President Ivan Duque.
The Supreme Court last week indicted Senator Ciro Ramirez for allegedly splitting $240 million (COP1 billion) that was meant for public investment projects with the former deputy of investment agency Prosperidad Social, Pierre Eugenio Garcia.
The court’s investigation also included the testimony of new key witnesses, who told the court that five more senators teamed up with Castaño’s organized crime group.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/plea-deal-triggers-major-corruption-probe-into-colombias-congress/
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Earlier article from last year:
Seven of those linked to the corruption network allegedly led by Congressman Mario Castaño were sent to prison
The Prosecutor's Office explained that, in two years, the members of the illegal network would have won up to 50 public contracts and, with it, diverted up to 43,433 million pesos, which were state resources; despite the scandal, the politician was re-elected as senator
Newsroom Infobae
23 Mar, 2022
Liberal Party Senator Mario Castaño has recently been linked to a corruption ring that apparently directed at least 50 contracts from different municipalities and departments to appropriate public resources. The Prosecutor's Office and other watchdogs are on the trail of what the politician would have to do with this case and, in the last few hours, seven of the alleged members of the network were sent to prison.
Over the past few days, several preliminary hearings have been held against nine members of the alleged network led by Senator Castaño; after the points and evidence presented by the Prosecutor's Office, a judge of guarantees decided to send seven of them to jail, while two others investigated benefited with house to prison because of a pre-agreement they made with the accusing body.
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According to what the Prosecutor's Office has been able to establish in the investigations, what these people did was manage contracts to keep public resources that were supposed to be used for mitigation works, construction of parks and sewerage; the paving of tertiary roads; education and care for children, as well as distribution of liquor and production projects that were offered in different populations of the country. The places where this network would have had the greatest presence would be Cauca, Tolima, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca.
The prosecutor explained in the firm that, with the previous intervention of Mario Castaño, several engineers and companies submitted their proposals, policies or market research to stay with public contracts. “The evidentiary material indicates that everything was defined by the payment of gifts, which corresponded to percentages of the money received after the award of each contract. Part of the resources were supposedly distributed among the project managers and another remained in the hands of the congressman,” said the official.
More:
https://www.infobae.com/en/2022/03/23/seven-of-those-linked-to-the-corruption-network-allegedly-led-by-congressman-mario-castano-were-sent-to-prison/