Odebrecht case: Colombia expects to have evidence for convictions in a month

The Legal Defense Agency of the Colombian State assured this Tuesday that “trust” have evidence against him Endorsement Group and Corficolombian by USA to initiate the procedures for the suspension and loss of the contracts of these companies with the State due to their involvement in the case of corruption of odebrecht.

“Given the seriousness of the conduct and the economic impact on the country, a procedure will be initiated that would lead to the suspension and loss of the contracts of these companies with the State”said the director of this entity, Martha Zamora.

The Odebrecht case resurfaced in Colombia after it was reactivated in the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused the banking conglomerate Grupo Aval “of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)”.

After this, the president, Gustavo Petro, blamed the Prosecutor’s Office for letting those guilty of the corruption of this company escape to Brazil, involved in Colombia in a case of irregularities for the construction of the Ruta del Sol II highway, which connects the center of the country with the Caribbean.

The Colombian government then asked the Brazilian and United States courts for help to continue with the case.

Zamora indicated that Colombian legislation allows all judicial evidence that comes from foreign authorities to be considered as such in the Colombian Justice.

“In terms of the fight against corruption, transnational bribery generates disabilities, in this case administrative, and for this reason the ruling is formally requested in order to start the process before the Chambers of Commerce and the Superintendence of Companies”Zamora emphasized.

Finally, the director of the entity added that they are processing the request for rulings related to the Drummond coal extraction company for actions that affected State resources within the framework of the economic conglomerate of Grupo Aval and Corficolombiana.

Aval Group and Odebrecht

This conglomerate, owned by Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, one of the richest men in Colombia, is the majority shareholder of Corficolombiana, a company linked to the bribes paid by Odebrecht to win the Ruta del Sol II construction contract. .

For this reason, Grupo Aval agreed to pay US$ 40 million (36.8 million euros) to settle the charges, while Corficolombiana signed a settlement agreement. “deferred prosecution” for which he will pay 20 million dollars.

The Prosecutor’s Office announced that it will charge more than 50 people, including 33 officials and former officials of the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) and the Brazilian magnate Marcelo Odebrecht, for alleged irregularities in the Ruta del Sol II contract.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the officials and ex-functionaries of the ANI “they intervened in the subscription of six addendums (addendums) of the Ruta del Sol II SAS concession that would have favored the contractor.”

These additions would have generated a “negative impact”, for the non-collection of fines, discounts and other irregularities, worth more than 160,000 million pesos (about 35.5 million euros at today’s exchange rate).

Among this second round of accusations, which will be for the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime and money laundering, are foreigners such as Odebrecht, who was president of the conglomerate between 2008 and 2015; the president of the Ruta del Sol II concession in 2010, Eder Paolo Ferracuti, and the Brazilians Eleuberto Martorelli, Luis Antonio Bueno Junior and Luis Batista, among others.

Source: EFE