Colombian Prosecutors Charge Daniel Garcia Arizabaleta With Corruption In Odebrecht Case

A prosecutor from Colombia’s Special Task Group for the Odebrecht Case charged the disgraced former head of INVIAs, Colombia’s highway administration, Daniel Andrés García Arizabaleta as allegedly responsible for the crime of illicit enrichment. Garcia pleaded not guilty.

During the investigation, prosecutors say they established that Garcia apparently received payments from Construtora Norberto Odebrecht during the periods 2009-2010 and 2012-2013, with the Brazilian multinational sending him the money through Eduardo José Zambrano Caicedo, the legal representative of the company Consultores Unidos S.A.

In this sense, García Arizabaleta signed two simulated contracts with Consultores Unidos for advice and commercial management. Subsequently, to prove the apparent fulfillment of the agreed contractual object, he presented various collection accounts and invoices for services that were never provided.

With these maneuvers, presumably, the effective disbursement of the money sent by Odebrecht was guaranteed and an attempt was made to hide the relationship he had with that construction company.

The evidence indicates that, on the occasion of the resources received, García Arizabaleta obtained an unjustified increase in assets of 360 million pesos.