HomeNewsBriefColombia Attorney General’s Office Hit by Corruption Scandals
BRIEF

Colombia Attorney General’s Office Hit by Corruption Scandals

COLOMBIA / 4 JUL 2017 BY VICTORIA DITTMAR EN

Investigators from both Colombia and the United States have implicated at least 50 officials from Colombia's Attorney General's Office in cases of corruption, including the top anti-corruption prosecutor, in an embarrassing discovery that could impact bilateral relations.

Colombia's Attorney General's Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación - FGN) announced on June 27 that Luis Gustavo Moreno, then the director of its anti-corruption unit, had been arrested in Bogotá, along with his lawyer Leonardo Luis Pinilla. His capture was carried out by the attorney general's technical investigation team (Cuerpo Tecnico de Investigacion - CTI) and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Moreno and Pinilla are wanted by the Southern District Court of Florida for "conspiracy to launder money with the intent to promote bribery and corruption in Colombia," and according to the Attorney General's Office, both will be extradited to the United States to face the charges.

Both officials met multiple times in Miami with the ex-governor of the Colombian department of Córdoba, Alejandro Llyons Muskus, to "demand money" in exchange for diverting ongoing corruption investigations being conducted against him in Colombia, according to the Attorney General's Office. 

Lyons, working as a "cooperating source of information" with US authorities, met with the former prosecutor and offered him $10,000 in bribes, under the direction of the DEA. Moreno and Pinilla demanded an additional $161,000 to maneuver the corruption case in favor of the former governor, according to a statement by the US Department of Justice.

Corruption investigations into the Attorney General's Office in Colombia have already led to the capture of at least 50 officials in various departments throughout the country. Several of those arrested could be extradited, according to Caracol Radio.

InSight Crime Analysis

The capture and possible extradition of Colombia's former anti-corruption prosecutor has generated much attention and could have bigger, long-lasting consequences.

The case comes at an inopportune moment in bilateral relations between the United States and Colombia. Under the Trump administration, the United States is looking to advance its interests in Colombia, such as the reinstatement of old anti-drug policies (although messages have been mixed on exactly how).

That there are some 50 officials implicated shows that Colombia is cooperating with the United States in the investigation, which has cast its net wide. But the purge also shows that corruption cases are recurrent and benefit not only elites, but also organized crime groups.

For example, a network of more than 40 officials that fixed cases for members of criminal groups, sold them confidential information, and resold decommissioned drugs was discovered earlier this year in the Attorney General's Office in the department of Nariño -- one of the areas most affected by drug trafficking. Another recent case was that of Hilda Niño, a high-level official who received bribes from paramilitary groups to maneuver investigations against them in their favor.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

AUC / 11 MAR 2022

Alleged drug trafficker alias "Memo Fantasma" or "Will the Ghost," was formally charged during a March 9 virtual audience, of…

COLOMBIA / 3 OCT 2022

One of the ELN's most infamous leader, alias Pablito, has been crucial in helping the Colombian guerrilla group move its…

COLOMBIA / 7 APR 2021

Illegal gold mining is devastating South America's jungles. The trade has been destroying large swaths of forest and flooding rivers…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…