A Bogota judge jailed the former councillor on regional issues of Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over her alleged involvement in a corruption scandal at the disaster management unit UNGRD.
The judge ordered to detain former councillor Sandra Ortiz after the prosecution charged her with money laundering and influence peddling.
According to the prosecution, Ortiz secured the delivery of a $680 thousand (COP3 billion) bribe at the home of Senator Ivan Name in 2023.
The bribe was meant to secure the approval of government reforms in Congress, according to prosecutor Maria Cristina Patiño.
The accusation was primarily based on the testimonies of former UNGRD director Olmedo Lopez and his former deputy, Sneyder Pinilla.
Both men are in jail after they admitted to receiving bribes from a businessman, who has also been jailed, to secure UNGRD contracts.
Lopez and Pinilla have insisted that they were part of a much larger conspiracy, which included the involvement of top government officials who allegedly bribed lawmakers to secure the approval of government reforms in Congress.
Ortiz and other Petro administration officials have denied these claims and accuse the former UNGRD executives of inventing things to negotiate lower prison sentences with the prosecution.
