New evidence surfaces of corruption in the State Council, one of Colombia’s top judicial bodies, with recordings that allegedly prove officials manipulated evidence and altered decisions in exchange for bribes.
The State Council has been under investigation for the past two years for the bribery scandal, known in the media as the “carousel of corruption.” Clerk Carlos Fernandez sentenced to four years in jail in November for meddling in cases.
Following La FM’s publication of the latest evidence, the prosecutor general and inspector general will now investigate another three judicial officials and five other individuals, including lawyers, based on hundreds of hours of surveillance recorded by the prosecutor general’s investigative unit.
“People from outside [the State Council], lobbyists, are offering their services to obtain certain rulings by this high tribunal. So it appears that they rely on employees or subordinates involved in the rulings to sell them information,” Prosecutor General Guillermo Mendoza Diago said Wednesday.
Mendoza said that there is no evidence at this point that the people involved succeeded in manipulating council rulings. He stressed that no Colombian magistrates have been implicated in the corruption scandal.
State Council President Luis Fernando Alvarez said Wednesday
Among the recordings is a conversation between Edilberto Casas, a State Council official and lawer Javier Socarraz, in which they discuss the payment of several hundred million pesos to obtain a prosecutor’s favorable ruling.
The State Council handles complaints against government bodies and their employees. It also advises the Colombian president on his administration’s draft legislation.