Following the removal of their private cook, three imprisoned Colombian construction tycoons have gone on hunger strike, claiming they fear being poisoned.
The businessmen, convicted for embezzling millions of dollars through corrupt public works contracts, have not eaten anything but bread and water for a week “because they fear their food will be poisoned,” their spokesman said.
The attorney of the three cousins of the Nule Group also complained that former Bogota mayor Samuel Moreno and his brother, former Senator Ivan Moreno, also implicated in the public works embezzlement scandal, are enjoying better living conditions than his clients.
The cousins, who until recently were held in a special cottage within the prison facility, were stripped of all privileges after investigators found out they possessed cell phones, ipods and large sums of money.
The businessmen were sentenced to seven years in prison and a $2.5 million fine in December. They were not ordered to return the stolen money.
