Former Colombia minister found guilty of embezzling $25M in farming subsidies: Reports [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Former Colombia minister found guilty of embezzling $25M in farming subsidies: Reports
Jun 14, 2014 posted by Adriaan Alsema

Colombia’s former agriculture minister has been found guilty of embezzling of $25 million earmarked to support ailing farmers but ended up in the wallets of political elites, local media reported Friday.

According to an alleged Supreme Court verdict that had not been formally released, former Minister Andres Felipe Arias is guilty of embezzlement after prosecutors successfully demonstrated that the minister had funneled state subsidies for poor farmers to wealthy and politically powerful families, a beauty queen and even former paramilitary frontmen.

The court did not yet rule on a sentence, but media reported that the Conservative Party politician and close ally of former President Alvaro Uribe will pay between 10 to 15 years in prison for the embezzlement scheme that broke in 2009.

Uribe, who has seen dozens of his political allies be put behind bars on corruption charges or proven ties to paramilitary death squads, denounced the announced sentence on Twitter as “politicking of justice and media.”

More:
http://colombiareports.co/former-colombian-minister-found-guilty-embezzling-25m-agricultural-subsidies/