The Colombian Prosecutor General’s Office announced Tuesday that corruption charges against the suspended Bogota mayor may land him in prison for as many as twenty-two years, reported Caracol Radio.
According to Prosecutor General Viviane Morales, the prosecution needs a month to adequately investigate additional offenses committed by the Nule Group construction firm and Samuel Moreno during his tenure as mayor.
“This is a gigantic case and Prosecutor Pabon asked me to help increase the number of prosecutors and bring in more cases and people,” the prosecutor general told Caracol Radio and Caracol Television.
The Bogota mayor was suspended in May for alleged irregularities in the awarding of public work contracts to the Nule Group firm. He is charged with extortion, embezzlement, malfeasance by omission and contracting without legal requirements.
Controversy emerged in October 2010, when a tape recording between Nule Group businessmen and a Colombian congressman implicated the mayor in the corruption scandal. Nule Group director Miguel Nule accused Moreno of receiving a commission for public works granted to the construction firm, prompting a disciplinary investigation by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
In regard to the heavy prison sentence she expects Moreno to receive, Viviane Morales said that his offenses “are of unusual severity in the field of public administration.”
Moreno allegedly extorted up to $2.8 million (COP5 billion) during his post as Bogota mayor.