The two sons of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe enriched themselves
through illegal insider trading that involved high government officials, weekly
Semana reported Sunday.
In the article,
columnist Daniel Coronel alleges that President Alvaro Uribe’s two sons got rich with the
help of top government officials. According to the report, the value of
property owned by the Uribe sons suspiciously grew from 33 million pesos to three
billion pesos in two years.
Coronel, known for his opposing government views, stated
that the two plots of land bought by Tomas and Jeronimo Uribe in Mosquera increased
their value when they went from being considered rural land to industrial lots
and the property changed from being quoted in hectares to meters.
In December of last year, the director of the Office of
Taxes and Customs declared the brother’s 32-hectar property in western
Colombian a free-trade zone. Coronel points out that leading government officials
like the minister of the Treasury, the director of the National Planning
Department, and the advising minister to the president had to approve the
project.
“The problem is that
the official decision ends up favoring the sons of the head of state,” affirmed
Coronel.
According to Radio Caracol, Congress is looking into the matter and the head government
officials involved could come under questioning in the matter of suspected
insider trading. If this happens, the mayor of Mosquera will have to explain
why, shortly after his purchase of a portion of the Uribe brother’s land, the
use of the land changed, from rural to industrial.
In an interview the brothers firmly denied the allegations, saying
all business transactions were done legally and there was no favoritism like
the journalist charges. “These are lies. First, the use of the land has not
changed. Second the accusation that the land was sold at a giveaway price to
the mayor is false because it was sold at the commercial price. Also, the land
was not bought in hectares; it was bought in square meters.”