Colombia’s Supreme Court will investigate 18 former congressmen for irregularities found in the processing of seized assets by the National Drugs Agency (DNE), W Radio reported Thursday.
Authorities are considering the possibility of investigating the implicated politicians for money laundering and drug trafficking, after it was found that many properties that were seized by the DNE and processed by the congressmen passed to drug traffickers’ front men. Through this practice, the traffickers recovered their properties and with the products of these estates, financed cocaine shipments.
The investigators also found a computer in a notary office, which appears to be the instrument that was used in legalizing the transfer of the DNE estates.
In dialogue with W Radio, Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras confirmed the investigations and said that in the coming days the Supreme Court of Justice and the Prosecutor General’s Office will have “numerous surprises.”
It was announced on Tuesday that the process of dissolving Colombia’s corrupt drug enforcement agency (DNE) will begin on July 1, after which point the organization will not be replaced, and the country’s Finance Ministry will instead handle seized assets.
Many DNE employees, as well as current and former politicians, are being investigated for corruption relating to the misuse of seized assets.