A judge denies bail to a former secretary general of the Ministry of Agriculture who allegedly is involved in an agriculture subsidy corruption scandal.
The judge decided that Juan David Ortega did not have the right to house arrest or temporary liberty and is to remain in La Picota jail in Bogota.
The former official is charged with embezzlement of government money and having exercised insufficient control of contracts with third parties who ended up enriching themselves.
In the scandal, agricultural subsidies intended for poor, rural farming families lined the pockets of some of Colombia’s richest landowning families, beauty queens and families of politicians.