{"id":20604,"date":"2017-07-30T11:05:37","date_gmt":"2017-07-30T16:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=20604"},"modified":"2017-07-30T11:06:17","modified_gmt":"2017-07-30T16:06:17","slug":"us-cancels-visa-colombian-ruling-party-senator-connected-odebrecht-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/us-cancels-visa-colombian-ruling-party-senator-connected-odebrecht-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"US Cancels Visa of Colombian Ruling Party Senator Connected to Odebrecht Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The United States has canceled the visa of Colombian Senator\u00a0Bernardo Miguel \u201c\u00d1o\u00f1o\u201d El\u00edas, a member of the country\u2019s\u00a0incumbent\u00a0\u201cU\u201d party led by President\u00a0Juan Manuel Santos.Officials reportedly canceled the\u00a0visa due to his alleged links to the Odebrecht corruption case.\u00a0The scandal has swept across Latin America, as investors continue to uncover that the Brazil-based construction company bribed high-standing officials in exchange for contracts.<\/p>\n

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In Colombia specifically, Attorney General N\u00e9stor Humberto Mart\u00ednez said\u00a0that bribes amount to over US $27 million, which is more than double the $11 million estimated made by the US Department of Justice last December.El\u00edas, arguably the third most popular senator in the country, reportedly traveled to the US a few days ago, but his current whereabouts are unknown. He\u2019s been absent from Congress since July 20, when a new legislature began its session.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General\u2019s office asked the Supreme Court to investigate all payments to Odebrecht in which\u00a0El\u00edas has involvement, with the intention of finding any evidence of favoritism or collusion. It also requested documents from the Supreme Court to investigate similar events related to Mussa Besaile, another member of\u00a0the U party, as well as Antonio Guerra de la Espriella, of the Cambio Radical party and the ex-senator Plinio Olano Becerra, of the OR party.<\/p>\n