Jaime Granados, Uribe’s lead attorney, argued that Judge Heredia should have halted the initial hearing when the defense filed a motion for her recusal, rather than dismissing it as an attempt to delay proceedings. “At the moment, we are not pursuing a lawsuit against the judge. What we want is for Álvaro Uribe’s right to be respected—that of an impartial judge—and the judge has not demonstrated the impartiality required by international standards and our own Constitution,” he told the broadcasting network Caracol Radio.

Despite the suspension, all evidence gathered so far remains valid, and the trial will resume once the tribunal issues a final ruling on the recusal motion. Judge Heredia announced that she must refer the appeal to a circuit judge, who will have three days to decide whether to grant the request to remove her from the proceedings, according to Medellín newspaper El Colombiano. The trial is expected to resume in late March.

However, this delay poses a serious risk to the case, given that it must be concluded before the statute of limitations expires on October 8, 2025. Within the next eight months, 105 witnesses must present their testimonies, and the court must analyze extensive documentary, audio, and video evidence. Both the initial circuit court and the tribunal handling appeals must reach a verdict before the deadline to avoid case dismissal due to expiration.

This trial represents an unprecedented legal challenge in Colombia, as no former president has ever faced such proceedings.

Uribe, Colombia’s president from 2002 to 2010, faces charges of bribery, procedural fraud, and bribery in a judicial proceeding. Prosecutors must determine whether he instigated others to manipulate witness testimony in an attempt to mislead the judiciary for his benefit.

The case was born in 2012 when Uribe filed a complaint against Senator Iván Cepeda, accusing him of abusing his public office, aggravated defamation, and procedural fraud. Cepeda had presented testimonies from former paramilitaries Juan Guillermo Monsalve and Pablo Hernán Sierra, alleging Uribe’s ties to paramilitary groups in Antioquia. However, in 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed Uribe’s complaint and instead launched an investigation into whether he had manipulated witnesses to discredit Cepeda.

Key evidence includes a 2018 recording made by Monsalve, in which Uribe’s legal envoy, Diego Cadena, is heard offering legal benefits in exchange for altering testimony. Cadena allegedly made payments and attempted to persuade various imprisoned witnesses to change their statements. The case became even more complex when Cadena himself was charged with procedural fraud and bribery in a separate trial.

Three key prosecution witnesses include: Juan Guillermo Monsalve, a former paramilitary who secretly recorded Diego Cadena offering him legal benefits; Deyanira Gómez, Monsalve’s former partner, who collaborated with authorities and provided the spy watch that captured Cadena’s offer; and Carlos Enrique Vélez, alias “Víctor,” another former paramilitary, who claims Cadena offered him a bribe to testify in Uribe’s favor

Uribe’s defense also has crucial witnesses, including: Diego Cadena, who insists that any offers made were independent of Uribe’s knowledge; Carlos López, alias “Caliche,” a friend of Monsalve, who claims he tried to persuade Monsalve to support Uribe out of personal admiration rather than direct orders and several ex-paramilitaries, who allege that Cepeda initially offered them benefits to testify against Uribe, although their credibility has been questioned.

Three main pieces of evidence play a pivotal role in the case: Recordings capturing Cadena’s interactions with Monsalve; records of payments to alias “Víctor”, which the prosecution views as proof of bribery, though the defense argues Uribe was unaware; and intercepted communications between Uribe and Cadena, which could confirm Uribe’s involvement, in spite of the fact that the defense contends they were illegally obtained and should be inadmissible.

Headline photo: The entire trial against former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez has been streamed live, allowing the public to follow every development in real time (Image: Radio Nacional de Colombia / Youtube)

• Daniel Quintero abruptly resigns amidst multiple scandals
• Tecnoglass moves HQ to Miami
• Nasty double assassination in Medellín: Is it political?
• Bribery charges against Alvaro Uribe are revived.
• NY Mayor Eric Adams visits Colombian border with Panamá.
• 6 Colombian assassins assassinated in Ecuador
• Ikea opens in Bogotá with plans for Medellín & Cali

Photo: Colombian Attorney General Francisco Barbosa Delgado speaks to the press after the resolution was announced. (Credit: Fiscalía)

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which announced the resolution of the charges earlier this month, Corficolombiana “conspired” with disgraced Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to make illicit payments of more than $23 million USD to win favor with Colombian officials involved in the Ruta del Sol 2 highway project.

Specifically, between 2012 and 2015, the two firms were attempting to win a contract to build a 328-mile stretch of this major roadway that would be built in the northeast department of Norte de Santander, revealed the US investigators.

Resolving the Odebrecht Investigation

In resolving the investigation, the financial group acknowledged, as a whole, having carried out illicit actions in conjunction with Odebrecht, and Corficolombiana agreed to withdraw its appeals against charges from Colombia’s Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC). It also committed to continue collaborating with both US and Colombian authorities for the next three years in their fight against corruption and economic malpractices.  

Additionally, the DOJ agreed to substantially reduce the initial fine of $40 million USD that had previously been sought, per reports.

Grupo Aval released a press statement highlighting that it was not the subject of the US DOJ charges, nor accusations from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while noting that the resolution focused on “actions taken by a former Corficolombiana executive” and that both it and Corficolombiana have been working to improve controls since the revelation.

“The DOJ and SEC recognized Corficolombiana’s and Grupo Aval’s extensive cooperation with the investigations and that, in the many years since the events occurred, Corficolombiana and Grupo Aval have enhanced their compliance programs and internal controls,” stated Grupo Aval.

It added that, “Corficolombiana and Grupo Aval consider this painful chapter closed, insisting on their commitment to the highest ethical standards and the continuous strengthening of their control environment.”

The Rotten Tentacles of Odebrecht Spread Wider

On the heels of the Grupo Aval settlement, Colombian Attorney General Francisco Barbosa announced from Washington that Luis Fernando Andrade, former head of the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI), had been indicted, along with 33 past and present government officials plus dozens more individuals, for their role in the Odebrecht scandal.

These two major developments represent just the latest in a near-decade-long scandal that has rocked the entire hemisphere.

Since its illicit activities came to light last decade, the scope and reach of Odebrecht’s corruption has only continued to be uncovered. The Brazil-based conglomerate, which has arms in sectors from construction and infrastructure to real estate and transportation, paid some $788 million USD in kickbacks for more than 100 public construction projects in 11 Latin American countries, as well as in Angola and Mozambique in Africa, according to official figures compiled by German outlet Deutsche Welle.

The enormity and duration of the scandal has only exacerbated the entire region’s outrage against corruption, which costs Latin America around $140 billion USD each year — or some 3% of regional gross domestic product (GDP) — according to Global Financial Integrity, a specialized consulting firm.

The Ongoing Political Fallout in Colombia

Beyond the national anger toward corporate sector corruption, in Colombia, Odebrecht illegal activities have stained some of the highest-ranking politicians, including the 2014 campaigns of both former President Juan Manuel Santos and the candidate he defeated, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, who currently faces criminal charges before the court.

Despite Santos not being implicated by the House of Representatives’ accusation committee, by a vote of six to three, the Procuraduría recently disqualified Roberto Prieto, the manager of his 2014 campaign, from holding office or contracting with the state for 12 years due to charges that he submitted false reports to the National Electoral Council (CNE) about contributions from the Brazilian multinational Odebrecht.

The attorney general also last month indicted former Zuluaga, the hand-picked candidate of powerful former President Álvaro Uribe, for falsifying a private document, procedural fraud, and illicit enrichment of individuals.

While former attorney general Nestor Humberto Martínez has not faced justice, his reputation has been greatly stained as then-head of the nation’s prosecution arm — in addition to his former ties to Grupo Aval. In response to the recent settlement announcement, Colombian President Gustavo Petro publicly chastised his political rival Martínez and described his ties with the Grupo Aval as an “incestuous relationship” that in the end “prevented a transparent trial in the case and the discovery of those bribed, who are currently senior political leaders.”

Last August, the two brothers were arrested in São Paulo on charges related to fraud in the contracts between the Transpetro subsidiary of state owned petroleum company Petrobras and the Efromovich brothers’ Estaleiro Ilha S.A. (EISA) shipyard in Brazil. The Efromovich brothers were accused of paying bribes and committing “irregularities” in the bidding process to win contracts, costing the government approximately $110 million USD. Ilha S.A. went bankrupt in 2015.

Judge Marcus Vinicius Reis Bastos, of the 12th Federal Court of Brasilia ruled that the prosecution’s case “does not contain a description of the crime and all its circumstances,” as “it does not indicate the antecedent of the crime necessary for the configuration of the crime of money laundering, or because it does not contain a logical narrative of the facts.”

Though briefly arrested, the Efromovich brothers were released to defend themselves. Born in Bolivia and of Polish descent, Germán Efromovich holds multiple citizenship and is well established in the Colombian corporate milieu, most notably as the former controlling shareholder of Avianca Airlines.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit journal Insight Crime, which reports on and analyzes organized crime and corruption throughout Latin America and the Caribbean had been investigating Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo: A low-profile businessman based in Madrid, Spain, also known as “Memo Fantasma” (Will The Ghost) who according to Insight Crime is “a former drug trafficker and leader of the brutal paramilitary army known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia — AUC).”

During this investigation into Memo Fantasma, Insight Crime discovered that he participated in the construction project Torre 85, a luxury building in Bogotá’s exclusive El Retiro neighborhood developed by Ramirez’ husband Alvaro Rincón by providing a portion of the land and investing in the project, built by Rincón’s construction company Hitos Urbanos Limitada. Vice President Ramirez remains a shareholder in this company, according to Insight Crime. Rincón admitted to Insight Crime his dealings with Memo Fantasma but insisted that he was unaware of his history.

“I know what story you are working on”—Marta Lucia Ramirez in a message to McDermott just hours after he confronted Memo Fantasma in Spain

After Insight Crime revealed the connections, Vice President Ramirez did an interview in April with W Radio where she insisted:

“I must tell you that if all this information is correct, as it apparently is, what I most desire is for this investigation to advance.”

Insight Crime published a full transcript of her interview, presenting her side of the story, where she contradicted her own husband by saying they had no dealings with Memo Fantasma, who two weeks ago (Memo Fantasma) had eight properties valued at over $2 million USD seized by Colombian prosecutors (Torre 85 was not one of them).

The Criminal Charges

On July 24, Colombia’s Attorney General notified Insight Crime’s co-director and leader of the Memo Fantasma investigation Jeremy McDermott that Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez filed criminal charges on June 2 against him for “affecting her right to moral integrity, good name, dignity and honor.” The attorney general’s office “invited” McDermott to meet with Ramirez via videoconference to reconcile their differences before the legal proceedings went any further: This an apparent attempt to pressure McDermott to issue statements in defense of the Vice President (even though McDermott never accused Ramirez or her husband Rincón of any wrongdoing) and contradicting his reporting of her links to Memo Fantasma, whether she knew who he was or not.

In April, McDermott received a demand to remove mentions of any connections between Ramirez and Memo Fantasma from the law firm of Abelardo De la Espriella, the same attorneys so far unsuccessfully fighting to quash Matarife, a YouTube show that is vexing another of their powerful clients, former President and current Senator Alvaro Uribe; political patron of current Colombian President Ivan Duque. Vice President Ramirez served as then President Uribe’s defense minister from 2002 to 2003. Espriella has a history of attacking journalists and NGOs on behalf of Uribe, though US based media mammoth Univision has directly accused de la Espriella’s firm of corruption in the case of Nicolas Maduro ally Alex Saab, a Colombian fugitive and former de la Espriella client currently detained in Cape Verde and fighting extradition to the United States. According to the Univision report, de la Espriella’s firm bribed a police officer to provide information on Saab’s pending 2018 arrest by Colombian police so that he could escape—then turned the police officer in for bribery!

Rather than bowing to Ramirez’s tactics, McDermott went public with the Vice President’s charges against him, immediately publishing an article announcing the criminal complaint against him. A conviction would result in 16 to 54 months in prison and a fine of up to $375,000 USD under Colombian law.

The reaction from press freedom advocates was swift. The actions taken by Colombia’s Vice President were condemned by groups like Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Colombia’s Foundation for Press Freedom. Insight Crime, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) and non-profit foundation also has diplomatic support, receiving funding from the governments of countries including the UK, Germany, Canada & Sweden, and academic institutions such as American University’s Center for Latin American & Latino Studies.

Ramirez quickly felt the pressure, as evidenced by her direct response on Twitter to José Miguel Vivanco, the Executive Director, Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, who reminded her that her actions violate standards of freedom of expression; penal codes against defamation (though she was never defamed by McDermott) violate human rights norms, and the honor of public officials should never be protected with prison.

Shortly after the scolding by Vivanco, the Vice President announced on Twitter that she was withdrawing the charges against McDermott.

El caso de @jerrymcdermott me puso en una encrucijada y la defensa a mi buen nombre prevaleció. Hoy considero el caso superado y retiraré la denuncia penal. La libertad de prensa y la defensa del honor son derechos inalienables y baluarte de la democracia.

— Marta Lucía Ramírez (@mluciaramirez) July 29, 2020

“The case of @jeremymcdermott put me at a crossroad and the defense of my good name prevailed,” she announced, though Insight Crime has stood by its story in every detail, and further revelations show even closer family ties—convictions even for importing heroin into the United States by her own brother, which she bailed out during his proceedings.

“Today I consider the case overcome, and I will withdraw my penal charges. Liberty of press and the defense of honor are inalienable rights and bulwark of democracy,” she continued in her tweet.

McDermott stressed that while he is thankful, the dropping of the lawsuit does not change the fact that journalists in Colombia can still be threatened with legal action using the same law that was used against him. He questioned whether a Colombian journalist would have seen the same outcome if faced with a similar situation.

“We did not change a single word in the investigation, and this validates our work,” McDermott said from Medellín.

Headline photo: Felipe Castaño, Vicepresidency of The Republic

Lèse-majesté is a French term meaning “to do wrong to majesty” and defines an offense against the dignity of a reigning sovereign. In medieval countries and some dictatorships such as Iran & North Korea it is against the law to offend the ruler. If Colombia is to be considered a modern republic, it cannot be acceptable for anyone occupying Casa de Nariño (the presidential palace) to use their prosecutors or prisons to intimidate, menace & bully journalists simply for reporting verified & true but embarrassing facts. As the Washington Post reminds us: “Democracy dies in darkness.”

In the future, Avianca says it will continue to serve routes to and from Peru through its airline subsidiaries in Colombia, El Salvador and Ecuador, once the restrictions imposed by the authorities under the current health emergency are lifted. For customers with valid tickets purchased directly to or from Peru, several exchange, reaccomodation and voucher options will be available.

Process implementation

A General Shareholders Meeting of Avianca Peru agreed to proceed with a voluntary liquidation and dissolution of Avianca Peru. Currently, the liquidation proceeding is in process of liquidating liabilities and assets of such entity. Such process is under the supervision of Estrategia Consultores S.A.C, the designated independent liquidator. Although the agreement of the General Shareholders’ Meeting has already been published, its registration in the Public
Registry of Peru is pending due to the fact the offices in which said registration must be made are closed due to the state of emergency in such country. Under this liquidation process, the payment of social benefits of the employees of Avianca Peru will have priority within the framework of the liquidation. Avianca Peru employs 906 employees.

The airline previously stopped paying debt and certain expenses and had warned that it did not have enough cash on hand to continue making payroll. Pilots in Peru have already initiated labor actions against the airline, and the carrier faces public opposition in Colombia to a direct government rescue.

Those with claims against Avianca may contact Avianca’s claims agent, Kurtzman Carson Consultants, at www.kccllc.net/avianca. Information is also available by calling (866) 967-1780 (U.S./Canada) or +1 (310) 751-2680 (International), as well as by email at www.kccllc.net/avianca/inquiry.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization that states its mission as promoting policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide. It provides a forum in which member governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to the economic, social and governance challenges they face.

OECD Member countries formally invited Colombia to join the Organization in May 2018, following a five-year accession process during which it underwent in-depth reviews by 23 OECD Committees and introduced major reforms to align its legislation, policies and practices to OECD standards. These spanned the breadth of policy fields including labor issues, reform of the justice system, corporate governance of state-owned enterprises, anti-bribery, trade and the establishment of a national policy on industrial chemicals and waste management.

Beyond the technical aspects, the accession process has served as a catalyst for Colombia to proceed to important reforms to improve the well-being of its citizens, such as the reduction of informality in the labor market, improving the quality and relevance of education and training as well as the long-term sustainability of the health system.

Welcoming the news, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said, “We are delighted to welcome Colombia as the 37th member of the OECD. Colombia’s accession is tangible proof of our commitment to bring together countries who strive for the highest standards in global public policy in order to improve the well-being and quality of life of their citizens. Given its recent history, Colombia can be rightly proud of what is truly an exceptional achievement.”

“The accession process has offered Colombia the opportunity to address major policy issues and challenges multilaterally and to learn from the experiences of fellow OECD countries. Engaging Colombia has also served to enrich the OECD’s knowledge and policy experience,” Mr Gurría said.

Colombia’s accession will extend the OECD’s membership to 37 countries. It will be the third Member country from the Latin America and Caribbean region to join following Mexico and Chile. A fourth, Costa Rica, is entering the final stages of its accession process to the Organization.

The OECD’s 37 members are: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Due to this, a number of the pilots have filed actions against Avianca in Peruvian courts, says the attorney. Monteblanco states he is representing almost 20 pilots, but others may have retained separate counsel. The pilots and the airline initially agreed to a buyout of 3 annual salaries for Airbus A320 pilots and 7 annual salaries for Airbus A330 pilots, Monteblanco told Finance Colombia.

Avianca says that because of the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic it should not have to pay the pilots according to the agreed terms. “On Friday, March 27, the company held a meeting with a group of workers who, within the framework of the Transformation Plan through which the company had been going through, had agreed to withdraw under a “voluntary retirement plan,” informing them that the fortuitous situation and force majeure due to the expansion of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic impact that this meant for Avianca Peru, forced us to withdraw the aforementioned agreement,” the airline told Finance Colombia in a written statement.

“For these reasons, it was indicated to [the pilots] that the situation described constitutes a fortuitous event and force majeure that forced us to nullify the individual Agreement on the termination of the employment relationship due to the acceptance of the voluntary retirement plan, which is why we proposed to conclude a termination agreement by mutual agreement, by which they ceased [employment] as of March 31, 2020 and Avianca Peru promised to pay them 1.5 remunerations per year worked, as well as the twelfths and thirtieths corresponding to the months and days worked, applying a maximum of 12 monthly salaries,” said the airline.

According to Monteblanco, in addition to reneging on the agreement, Avianca offered no distinct time frame for payment of the alternative agreement. For its part, Avianca says that some of the workers in Peru have accepted the alternate buyouts.

Financially troubled Avianca is embroiled in multiple corruption scandals involving bribes for the purchase of Airbus aircraft and improper perks to government officials. The airline has ceased paying dividends, debt, and leases and has been downgraded by ratings agencies such as Fitch which rates the company at C.

Below is the original (Spanish) statement shared by Avianca in its entirety:

Sobre convenio individual de extinción de la relación laboral por plan de retiro voluntario:

• El viernes 27 de marzo la Empresa mantuvo una reunión con un grupo de trabajadores que, en el marco del Plan de Transformación por el que venía atravesando la empresa, habían aceptado retirarse acogiéndose a un “plan de retiro voluntario”, comunicándoles que la coyuntura de caso fortuito y fuerza mayor configurada a partir de la expansión del COVID-19 y la afectación económica que implicaba ello para AVIANCA PERÚ, nos obligaba a dejar sin efecto el acuerdo mencionado.
• En esta reunión se les contextualizó que, el Gobierno, a través del Decreto Supremo No. 044-2020-PCM, dispuso que desde el día lunes 16 de marzo se suspendiera el transporte aéreo internacional, así como el transporte interprovincial de pasajeros a nivel nacional (medida que ha sido ampliada hasta el 12 de abril a través del Decreto Supremo No. 051-2020-PCM). Esta situación impide que AVIANCA PERÚ desarrolle su actividad principal y la oportunidad de la reactivación resultaba incierta.
• Adicionalmente, se les informó que la restricción al máximo de la ejecución de la actividad principal de AVIANCA PERU (el transporte de pasajeros por vía aérea) había venido afectando sus ingresos desde de febrero de 2020, llegando a niveles de una reducción en las ventas por transporte de pasajeros de más del 90% en marzo, situación que se estima que se prolongará durante los próximos meses.
• Por tales motivos, se les indicó que la situación descrita configura un evento de caso fortuito y fuerza mayor que nos obligaba a dejar sin efecto el Convenio individual de extinción de la relación laboral por acogimiento plan de retiro voluntario celebrado, razón por la que les propusimos celebrar un convenio de cese por mutuo acuerdo, por el cual cesaban al 31 de marzo de 2020 y AVIANCA PERÚ se comprometía a pagarles 1.5 remuneraciones por año laborado, así como los dozavos y treintavos que correspondiesen a los meses y días laborados, aplicando un máximo de 12 remuneraciones mensuales.
• A la fecha, un grupo de trabajadores se ha acogido a esta propuesta, incluyendo algunos pilotos, quiénes han reconocido el caso fortuito y la fuerza mayor que se presenta a nivel mundial y nacional, respectivamente.
• A los trabajadores que no aceptaron la nueva propuesta, mantienen su vínculo laboral con AVIANCA PERÚ, bajo la figura legal de suspensión perfecta de labores, la cual tiene por objeto preservar los puestos de trabajo ante una crisis económica de magnitud enorme y resultado incierto para la empresa, no obstante, ello, mantienen las mismas opciones que el resto de trabajadores.

According to the airline, the search and seizure of information by the national prosecutor’s office is related to allegations and cover-up of Avianca’s potentially improper bribery by senior executives and members of the board of directors of government officials with airline tickets, upgrades and discounts; which could, under the law of some countries where Avianca operates, be against the law.

“Today, the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia served Avianca with a search warrant of its offices with the objective of collecting information related to this investigation.”

Avianca admits that the business practice was discovered in 2017 by internal auditors, but was not disclosed until the autumn of 2019, well after the former CEO and members of the previous board were dismissed and replaced.

The law firm of Ropes & Gray, contracted by the airline to investigate its role in the Airbus bribery scandal, is also conducting an investigation on behalf of the airline into these potential legal violations. Apparently, Avianca will also need to retain criminal counsel. In addition to these legal complications in Colombia, the potential bribery has also been reported by the airline to the U.S. Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Avianca, in a statement shared with Finance Colombia said: “As has been its practice, Avianca has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with all pertinent authorities. Avianca will provide the information being requested to the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia, while exercising its legal rights to ensure that its confidential and privileged information remains protected.”

The probe — which is related to the June arrest of Colombia’s former top corruption-fighting official — is looking into evidence reportedly spawning from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) that three top justices accepted bribes in exchange for issuing favorable rulings for a governor and two senators who were themselves charged with corruption, according to an investigative report by Bogotá-based newspaper El Tiempo.

“It hurts to confirm that corruption can reach state institutions so high,” said President Juan Manuel Santos today in the capital. (Photo: Presidencia de la República)

The former justices in question, according to the paper, are José Leonidas Bustos, Francisco Javier Ricaurte, and Camilo Tarquino, who unlike the other two is reportedly under investigation for violations committed while he was a lawyer, not acting a judge. The DEA reportedly possesses evidence stemming from wiretaps, according to El Tiempo.

Luis Gustavo Moreno, the anti-corruption chief in the office of Colombia’s attorney general before his June arrest, was detained on charges of soliciting and accepting a bribe from a former governor in the department of Córdoba who was seeking to pay off the official in exchange for his assistance in winning at trial.

The charges brought against Moreno, who has since admitted wrong-doing, were rooted in a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that presumably overlaps with the current wiretaps involving the former Supreme Court justices.

President Juan Manuel Santos today confirmed that the investigations are underway, urging the authorities to carry out their investigation quickly and saying that the revelation pained him personally. “It hurts me as the president, as head of state, and as Colombian,” said Santos. “It hurts to confirm that corruption can reach state institutions so high.”

Odebrecht Scandal Continues to Widen

President Santos has himself drawn questions about his campaign financing during both Colombia’s 2010 and 2014 presidential elections.

Investigations have shown that money from Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction firm that has paid record-breaking sums — billions of dollars — in fines for a global bribery racket it ran for more than a decade, wound up in the campaign coffers of politicians, including the current president while he was first running for office and for re-election.

The Odebrecht scandal, which has implicated multiple former presidents and high-ranking officials across Latin America throughout 2017, has also ensnared several other public officials in Colombia.

Late last month, the attorney general announced that Luis Fernando Andrade, the president of Colombia’s National Infrastructure Agency, had been implicated for his role in awarding a road project to Odebrecht. The Ruta del Sol II and Ocaña-Gamarra road projects are the two known contracts that were illicitly won in Colombia by Odebrecht, which is believed to have paid out some $11.5 million USD in bribes in the country. According to the attorney general, Andrade is scheduled to face a hearing in Bogotá on September 21.

Other public officials in Colombia so far implicated, arrested, or charged in relation to Odebrecht bribes include former senator Otto Bula, former transport minister Gabriel García Morales, infrastructure agency official Juan Sebastián Correa, and senator Bernardo Miguel Elías.

The matter continues to affect Colombia’s efforts to progress with its massive highway overhaul project, which has been underway for several years and includes plans to invest tens of billions of dollars over the next decade in infrastructure upgrades.

National Planning Department head Luis Fernando Mejía told Finance Colombia earlier this summer that foreign investors remain highly interested in participating in this “Fourth Generation” (4G) road overhaul project. But concerns remain. So as the nation moves into the second and third waves of financing, the government is working to ease fears held by some international banks about contract guarantees in a post-Odebrecht world.

“We are making sure that the Odebrecht stuff doesn’t add a lot of noise to the financial closure of the second and third waves,” Mejía told Finance Colombia. “We’re working very closely with the banks and with the investors to leave a message of tranquility. There are not going to be any issues at all. Everyone is going to get paid.”

Money Laundering Syndicate Busted

In an unrelated investigation, Colombia’s attorney general also announced today that it has shut down a syndicate known to have laundered some $71 million USD over five years.

A joint effort by the national police and the Financial Analysis and Information Unit (UIAF) led to the arrest of 20 suspected members of the Clan del Golfo, a criminal enterprise that laundered drug money by routing it through at least 10 different formal companies.

Seizures carried out across the the country — including raids in Bogotá, Medellín, Montería, Turbo, and Apartadó — yielded more than $150,000 USD in cash, firearms, 28 computers, 49 cell phones, and other digital storage equipment, according to the attorney general.

The Ongoing Corruption Fight in Colombia

Early this year, President Santos said that the fight against corruption would join the implementation of the nation’s peace process as the administration’s top priority for 2017

In tangible action, the president signed an order, the Declaration for the Open State, to improve public sector transparency and curb abuses in government contracting. He also sanctioned a law establishing a new code of ethics for Congress members, and both actions came after the nation established its Citizen’s Commission to Fight Corruption.

While he and other top officials becoming ensnared in the corruption web may not have been part of the initial plan, the ongoing Odebrecht-related fallout, the revelation of bribery schemes, and today’s money laundering arrests have dominated headlines throughout the year.

“In this fight against corruption, we must be tough and we must persevere,” said Santos today in reference to the investigation of former Supreme Court justices. “We are going to win the battle against corruption.”

Photo credit: Presidencia de la República