Colombian authorities on Wednesday seized six properties of a former congressman convicted for links to death squads, local media reported.
In 2008, Congressman Jose Rosario Gamarra was sentenced to 36 months in prison on chargers of conspiracy with alleged links to paramilitary groups in the north of Colombia.
The National Unit of Forfeiture and Money Laundering, with the help of local police, seized two farms in the municipality of Plato and three in the municipality of Cienaga, both located in the northern state of Magdalena.
In addition to the five properties, the police also seized a office in Barranquilla in the country’s capital, Bogota.
The politician was dismissed and banned from office in 2008 and subsequently sentenced after prosecutors successfully proved Gamarra had ties to the Northern Bloc of the AUC, a now-defunct paramilitary organization founded in the 1990s that had proven ties to at least 50 Congressmen serving the 2002-2006 and 2006-2010 congressional terms.
FACT SHEET: Parapolitics
According to local media, the seizures are the first in a series of operation aimed at recovering allegedly illegally obtained properties of convicted politicians. This was not confirmed by the Prosecutor General’s office.
Sources
- Inician extinción de dominio a bienes de exparlamentario (Prosecutor General’s Office)
- Inició extinción de dominio contra parapolíticos (Caracol Radio)
- Inicia extinción de dominio de excongresistas implicados en parapolítica (El Colombiano)