A Bogota court on Thursday dropped the case against the sons of former President Alvaro Uribe, over their alleged role in the irregular acquisition of land west of Colombia’s capital.
According to newspaper El Colombiano, the Administrative Tribunal of Cundinamerica found that there “were no breaches of public morality” in the Tomas and Jeronimo Uribe’s acquisition of land in Mosquera, in the central Colombian department of Cundinamerica.
Authorities opened an investigation into the Uribe boys’ activities in 2009 following a report that they made money off the land with the help of government officials. According to the report, the value of the property owned by the two men grew from $17,000 to $1.5 million in two years.
The property value increased when the government changed the land classification from rural to industrial in 2007. The Uribe brothers’ land was declared an industrial free trade zone with the approval of the minister of the treasury and the director of the National Planning Department, significantly upping the value.
The court, however, determined that the land had been intended for industrial use since 2000, and no favoritism towards the then-president’s sons had been demonstrated.