A former Colombian congressman was sentenced to ten years in prison Wednesday for ripping off a 100 people for $5 million in a real estate scam.
Former Conservative Party Representative Jose Gerardo Piamba was sent to prison after the country’s Supreme Court ruled it had been proven the lawmaker had convinced 100 families from the city of Popayan to invest money in a real estate proyect that never came to being.
The lawmaker and his wife did so through a fake entity called the Peace Promotion Corporation. According to the prosecution, Piamba used his position as congressman and the false promise that foreign investors were also investing in the property to convince the victims to take part in the scam.
The former congressmen denied guilt and said the trial was the result of a conspiracy.
Piamba represented the Cauca department between 2006 and 2010, during which he was a member of the Accusations Committee that investigated then-President Alvaro Uribe for his alleged role in the 2004 bribery of congressmen to secure his 2006 reelection.