An arraignment judge jailed two former directors of Colombia’s disaster management agency UNGRD as they await their corruption trials.
Former UNGRD director Olmedo Lopez and his former deputy, Sneyder Pinilla, have been accused of receiving bribes from one of the agency’s contractors, Luis Eduardo Lopez, a.k.a. “El Pastuzo.”
According to the prosecution, Lopez and Pinilla granted El Pastuzo 21 contracts as part of a criminal conspiracy that began in mid 2023 and ended when press got wind of their alleged corruption in January.
The prosecution also claimed that the former UNGRD chiefs conspired with top government officials to bribe members of Congress.
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Lopez, Pinilla and El Pastuzo pleaded not guilty as they are negotiating a plea bargain with the prosecution.
The former UNGRD chief have insisted that they followed orders given to them by Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla, former planning director Carlos Ramon Gonzalez, former Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco and the former presidential adviser on regional issues, Sandra Ortiz.
According to President Gustavo Petro, Lopez and Pinilla invented these orders in an attempt to evade prison.
The judge agreed to send the former UNGRD chiefs to military barracks after they said their cooperation with justice could lead to retaliations in ordinary prisons.
Deputy Comptroller General Carlos Mario Zuluaga said in June that corruption at the UNGRD may have cost the government more than $60 million since 2022.
According to Zuluaga, this corruption had become “systemic” after changes to the agency’s financial administration that sought to secure a rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.