2024-09-15 13:09:27
Lawyer Edgar Eduardo Riveros Rey was sent to prison by order of a Bogotá judge after being charged with allegedly bribing two key witnesses in the corruption scandal involving the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).
The accusation alleges that Riveros Rey attempted to bribe Sneyder Augusto Pinilla Álvarez, former deputy director of Risk Management at UNGRDand Olmedo de Jesús López, in order to modify their testimonies before the Prosecutor’s Office to protect others involved in the corruption network.
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The prosecutor who brought the case before the Supreme Court of Justice reported that Riveros Rey met with Pinilla Álvarez on July 26 at a hotel in Bogotá, offering Initially 3 billion pesos or 5% of an ongoing contract with UNGRD in exchange for retracting his statements. At a second meeting on July 31, The lawyer is said to have proposed paying the sum in installments, adding an additional 350 million for Pinilla Álvarez to help return misappropriated resources.
At the same meeting, Riveros Rey also allegedly offered 10 billion pesos to López to modify his versions and stop implicating other officials in the hiring irregularities at UNGRD.
The lawyer, who faces bribery charges in the criminal proceedings, has denied the accusations. However, the evidence presented has led to the precautionary measure against him while the judicial process continues.
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