Seven of those linked to the corruption network allegedly led by Congressman Mario Castaño were sent to prison

Liberal Party Senator Mario Castaño has recently been linked to a corruption ring that apparently directed at least 50 contracts from different municipalities and departments to appropriate public resources. The Prosecutor's Office and other watchdogs are on the trail of what the politician would have to do with this case and, in the last few hours, seven of the alleged members of the network were sent to prison.

Over the past few days, several preliminary hearings have been held against nine members of the alleged network led by Senator Castaño; after the points and evidence presented by the Prosecutor's Office, a judge of guarantees decided to send seven of them to jail, while two others investigated benefited with house to prison because of a pre-agreement they made with the accusing body.

For the togado, the Prosecutor's Office was able to demonstrate the association of these individuals with the corruption case that would have diverted the fate of more than 43 billion pesos of public resources. The beneficiaries of the home insurance measure were Claudia Marcela Castaño Morales and Juan Sebastián Vargas, who reached a pre-agreement with the prosecutor to avoid imprisonment.

For their part, the lawyers of the people who were sent to prison anticipated that they will appeal the decision taken by the 55th Court with the Function of Guarantee Control of Bogotá.

It should be recalled that, in the midst of one of the hearings held in recent days, one of the officials of the investigative body that is also conducting the investigation in this case told the firm that “she was accredited by this delegate and supported by the material evidence that has been presented to date that the head of the Organized Criminal Group (GDO) is a senator of the Republic by the name of Mario Alberto Castaño Pérez”.

It is for this reason that, while deciding the judicial fate of the nine persons investigated, the Supreme Court of Justice called Senator Castaño to inquire, to answer for the facts that link him as alleged leader of the corruption network. It is pointed out that the Caldensian politician could be charged with the crime of a concert to commit a crime.

According to what the Prosecutor's Office has been able to establish in the investigations, what these people did was manage contracts to keep public resources that were supposed to be used for mitigation works, construction of parks and sewerage; the paving of tertiary roads; education and care for children, as well as distribution of liquor and production projects that were offered in different populations of the country. The places where this network would have had the greatest presence would be Cauca, Tolima, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca.

The prosecutor explained in the firm that, with the previous intervention of Mario Castaño, several engineers and companies submitted their proposals, policies or market research to stay with public contracts. “The evidentiary material indicates that everything was defined by the payment of gifts, which corresponded to percentages of the money received after the award of each contract. Part of the resources were supposedly distributed among the project managers and another remained in the hands of the congressman,” said the official.

Some of the contracts that are part of the research have to do with the award of the sale of Aguardiente de Chocó for a value of 14,492 million pesos; the development of several works to address a road emergency in Villamaría (Caldas) for 10 billion pesos; the construction of a park in Nuquí (Chocó) for 1 .250 million pesos; carrying out a civil works in Manizales (Caldas) for 16,424 million pesos; and an audit of an energy project in Boyacá for 1 billion pesos.

The Prosecutor's Office has identified Mario Castaño in the file as the 'lobbyist' of the other members of the corruption network. They explained that “in a work carried out for eight months, it established that, from the office of a senator of the Republic (Castaño), millionaire contracts were supposedly directed in exchange for 10% of the total value of each one.”

In addition, the work of the Office of the Prosecutor has also focused on the appointment of 17 persons recommended to State entities, governorates and municipal mayors. For now, those investigated and deprived of liberty in the case must continue to be brought to justice by concert for aggravated crimes, undue interest in the conclusion of contracts, tempted extortion and aggravated fraud.

In the midst of the hearings, the prosecutor has revealed different audios in which Senator Castaño is heard talking to those investigated about the contracts, for example, with Juan Carlos Martínez, who in turn had dialogues with Wilmar Herrera and Santiago Castaño.

For his part, Senator Mario Castaño told El Espectador that the Prosecutor's Office seeks to charge him without evidence. “These audios are absolutely decontextualized. I was surprised last night. It makes me very sad about the administration of justice, because there are perverse interests. When you know very well how Colombia works , I know that this is a persecution of someone who is interested in not continuing to grow in the political way. Don't let it stand out anymore. Let the regions be left without a voice. That in the regions someone comes and says that no projects can be done. Let the congressmen lose their functionality,” adding that he is prepared to defend himself in the face of justice.

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