Colombia’s former senate president arrested on corruption charges – Colombia News

Prosecutors arrested the former president of Colombia’s Senate over allegations that he received bribes from government officials seeking to buy his support.

Senator Ivan Name was taken into custody in Bogota after the Supreme Court ordered the prosecution to arrest the prominent Green Alliance politician.

According to two jailed former directors of the governmental disaster management unit UNGRD, they gave Name $690,000 (COP3 billion) in bribes to secure his support for the reform agenda of President Gustavo Petro.

The Supreme court also ordered the arrest of the former president of the House of Representatives, Andres Calle of the Liberal Party, who allegedly received $230 thousand (COP1 billion) in bribes from the same officials.

Unlike Name, Calle wasn’t at home when prosecutors knocked on his door.

The House Representative’s defense attorney, Jaime Lombana, said in a public statement that he and his client “will read the decision” of the court before deciding on a possible surrender to justice.

The prosecution previously arrested Petro’s former advisor on regional issues, Sandra Ortiz, who allegedly acted as an intermediary between former UNGRD directors Olmedo Lopez and Sneyder Pinilla, and the politicians that presided over congress between 2023 and 2024.

According to Pinilla’s defense attorney, Luis Gustavo Moreno, “more powerful people are yet to fall.”

Apart from Name and Calle, the Supreme Court, opened criminal investigations into six other (former) congressmen for allegedly seeking UNGRD funds for befriended companies.

The prosecution is investigating several former members of the Petro administration for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of funds from disaster prevention and response projects.

The UNGRD scandal has become by far the biggest corruption scandal that hit the current administration, which vowed to combat systemic corruption in government.

According to the former comptroller general, Carlos Mario Zuluaga, financial mismanagement and corruption could have cost the UNGRD more than $60 million since 2022.

The use of UNGRD funds for political slush funds apparently began after the administration of President Ivan Duque relaxed spending restrictions in response to the COVID19 pandemic in 2020.