Colombia’s Attorney General Reveals Odebrecht Bribes Exceed US$27 Million

News from Panama / Thursday, July 27th, 2017
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The attorney general, Néstor Humberto Martínez, has recently revealed that in Colombia the exceptionally corrupt construction giant Odebrecht has paid bribes to the amount of  USD $27 million USD ($84 billion Colombian pesos).The prosecution revealed new details involving Colombian politicians in Odebrecht‘s bribery networks.

The attorney general recently released information about bribery in major Colombian infrastructure projects, asserting that  USD $4 million were given in the Ruta del Sol section II, and USD $3 million for the construction of the Ocaña-Gabarra highway. Both projects are located in northeastern Colombia.

For this reason, the prosecution requested that copies be sent in full to the supreme court in order to investigate what happened regarding Odebrecht’s possible payment history to Congressmen Musa Besaile, Bernardo Elías, Plinio Olano, Antonio Guerra and Ciro Rodríguez.

Odebrecht’s web of bribery in Colombia has been facilitated through irregular payments and intermediaries, which constitutes the crime of money laundering; crimes that have been alleged to exceed $34 billion Colombian pesos.

Also, the agency detailed that Odebrecht used five Colombian and three foreign companies in order to facilitate the payments and bribes.

“These payments were made through subsidiaries in Colombia with origination from Odebrecht,” said Martinez.

Likewise, Martinez revealed that the authorities arrested prosecutor Óscar Martínez Monterrosa because he allegedly participated with a lawyer in demanding payments for court proceedings.

In the Odebrecht case, the prosecution issued an arrest warrant against the legal representative of the Ruta del Sol concessionaire S.A.S, headed by the Portuguese Éder Paolo Ferracuti.

 

Attorney General of Colombia
@FiscaliaCol
“The investigations of the #Fiscalia (attorney general) in the case of #Odebrecht continue without evidence from foreign authorities”.

In addition, new charges will be filed for the crime of illicit enrichment against Juan Sebastian Correa, former official of the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI), having found evidence that would link him to a request for a loan of more than  USD $99 million.