Partido de la U Congressman Luis Fernando Ochoa said the man captured for trying to extort him out of $111,000 over the past months was being directed by a fellow congressman, reported El Espectador.
Ochoa announced to journalists Wednesday that his extortionist had been captured Tuesday night after he informed authorities and formulated a plan for capture, adding that the captured delinquent “had been contacted by people in the political sector, members of the Congress and the executive sector of Putumayo.”
After being pressured by journalists, Ochoa claimed that the delinquent said in his statement that he had been directed by Liberal Party Congressman Guillermo Rivera.
Rivera responded by telling reporters, “I just got off the phone with the lawyer of this character who told me how sorry he was that his client used my name and that he is going to retract this … He told me, the lawyer, that his client is very sorry for having cited my name without me having participated in this.”
Both Ochoa and Rivera are representatives from the southern department of Putumayo which borders Peru and Ecuador.