Colombian Prosecutor’s Office investigates 7 governors for corruption in pandemic management

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Colombian Prosecutor’s Office announced this Sunday (03) that seven governors are being investigated for possible corruption in the management of resources destined for the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Along with these, 35 other former governors are also under the magnifying glass of the Prosecutor’s Office, as specified by the prosecutor Francisco Barbosa; all this in the framework of the intense fight against episodes of corruption in the Colombian departments, reports Radio Nacional de Colombia.

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Although he has not detailed the departments that were governed bt these leaders, nor the characteristics of the proceedings that will come in the future, Barbosa has asserted that “it is corruption” and that these investigations will give actual results for the future of Colombia.

The Prosecutor General has announced that he is ready to strengthen cooperation in the fight against organized crime at the national and international level in all areas.

FIGHT AGAINST DRUG TRAFFICKING

To strengthen the understanding against crime, and more especially against drug trafficking, the city of Cartagena, in the northwest of Colombia, will host a continental meeting to coordinate tasks fighting drug trafficking this month.

Barbosa gave an interview to the local newspaper ‘El Tiempo’ where he highlighted the opportunity that this represents to “begin the construction of a regional strategy to combat this type of criminality, as well as the finances that feed it.”

The prosecutor general anticipated that the meeting would be attended by “the prosecutor general of Panama and prosecutors from Honduras, Guatemala, Paraguay, Costa Rica and Bolivia”, as well as “deputy prosecutors and deputy prosecutors from Brazil and Chile”, while other nations such as Argentina, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay “are yet to be confirmed”.

“We have seized more than 700 tons of cocaine hydrochloride and obtained more than US$4 billion dollars – in extinction proceedings,” the prosecutor remarked.

CLARIFICATION OF HOMICIDES

Likewise, the prosecutor referred to the clarification of homicides of social leaders and demonstrators during the recent national strike and detailed that the results of these investigations have increased.

In terms of homicides of social leaders, more than 66 percent of the cases have been clarified; in reincorporated cases, 53.2 percent have been explained; in collective homicides, the figure has gone from 44 percent to 74 percent; and finally, in intentional homicides, a “historic level” of clarification of 32.47 percent of the cases has been registered.

“Of the 29 homicides that occurred on the occasion of the demonstrations (of the strike), we have achieved a 51.7 percent clarification,” Barbosa concluded.