Former Colombian senator Ivan Moreno has been banned from holding office for 20 years, hours after having a request to postpone his corruption trial rejected, reported Radio Caracol Friday.
Moreno is charged with extortion, influence-peddling and fraudulent contracting connected to the Bogota public works scandal, in which contracts were illegally handed to construction conglomerate Nule Group in return for a 6% kickback.
It is estimated that Moreno and his brother, ex-Mayor of Bogota Samuel Moreno, made a combined profit in excess of $5.5 million.
The directors of the Nule Group, another two brothers and their cousin, were sentenced in December to seven years in prison for their part in the scam.
The Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez Friday described Moreno’s conduct as “very serious” and said, “He entered the district administration through officials and contractors who made illegal pacts which distorted the process of hiring in the capital of the Republic.”
The trial of Moreno has broken Colombian records due to the 250 hours of audio recordings and 30,000 pages of documents used as evidence.
The criminal trial of Moreno remains ongoing.