The man chosen as the next president of Colombia’s Congress has three outstanding suits against him alleging influence peddling and ties to paramilitaries, Caracol Radio reported Tuesday.
Senator Juan Manuel Corzo, who has been picked by President Juan Manuel Santos to serve as the next president of Congress, currently has three suits leveled against him in Colombia’s constitutional court.
The suits charge that Corzo abused his position by delivering notaries in exchange for votes for ex-President Alvaro Uribe, that he engaged in influence peddling in his appointment of political opponents to the environmental board (CAR) of the department of Norte de Santander, and that he has ties to paramilitaries as alleged in testimony given by a former member of Colombia’s largest paramilitary group, the AUC.
Corzo dismissed the charges against him, saying that they had been fabricated to “generate bad information.”
Corzo also supervised the creation of congressional boards and committees and worked with the controversial Party for National Integration (PIN) to determine its influence. Caracol Radio reported that although the PIN only has 22 members it has curiously cast 26 votes in the past, a discrepancy that may be due to Corzo.
Many members of the PIN have been linked to paramilitary activity.