The ex-boyfriend of former Miss Colombia Valerie Dominguez was handed a 20-month prison sentence Thursday for his role in the “Agro Ingreso Seguro” (AIS) scandal.
Juan Manuel Davila admitted charges of embezzlement and falsifying documents to receive government subsidies from the AIS (Secure Agricultural Income).
Davila is among 22 people including ex-girlfriend Dominguez and his family facing charges of wrongly receiving government agricultural subsidies intended for poor farmers in the AIS.
Davila’s sister Ana Maria and his mother Maria Clara Fernandez de Soto also received the same sentence and must pay a fine of 180 minimum wages, coming to approximately $59,040, while his father Juan Manuel Davila Jimeno was sentenced to 22 months and forced to pay 901 minumum monthly salaries, an estimated $295,528.
All family members will allegedly serve their sentences at home as they have no previous criminal records and the sentences are under four years.
Meanwhile the former Miss Colombia also faces charges of corruption and will receive her judgment on Monday. The beauty queen, who owns a jewelry business, reportedly received $163,000 tax-free for an “irrigation and drainage” project.
In the case of the Davila family the court ruling stated that they received grants erratically for irrigation and drainage projects for a farm in the department of Magdalena in the north of Colombia.
The court revealed that the sentence for these crimes would have carried a 96-month jail term, but due to collaborations with the court and repaid subsides the term was reduced to 22 and 20-months.
“Beacuse they have no criminal records, are primary violators to justice and are returning suitable sums of money we feel it is unnecessary for social rehabilitation and they will be given a second chance to rectify their behavior,” read a court statement.
The AIS program took place under the former president Alvaro Uribe administration, and was intended to decrease rural inequality by granting subsidies to peasant farmers. Former administration officials have been accused of corrupting the process by giving these government funds to wealthy land owners, beauty queens and political allies.
