Colombian minister investigated for ties to warlord .

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombian senator investigated over alleged drug money laundering ties .

Colombian senator investigated over alleged drug money laundering ties .
Wednesday, 04 July 2012 17:16 David Spencer Seconi

Colombia's Supreme Court opened an investigation a senator on Thursday over allegations of money laundering.
According to Colombia's financial crime agency, officials are now investigating coalition U Party member and former president of the Senate Dilian Francis Toro on charges that her family business, Agropecuaria Ceiba Verde Ltda., transferred almost $170 thousand to a person identified as Hans Barney Salazar, who was sent to prison in 2005 for seven years on charges of money laundering.

~snip~
The court also opened preliminary investigations of Toro's supposed links to paramilitary organizations in the southwest department of Cauca, which she currently represents.

Ex-narcotics trafficker Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante, alias "Rasguno," recently told authorities that he had given $170 thousand to Toro's 2002 campaign.

~snip~
Toro was first linked to paramilitary groups in July 2008 as part of an informal list of senators implicated in the country's "parapolitica" scandal. She was elected to the senate in 2002 and received the most votes of any senator in the 2006 elections. She has been accused in the past of links with a number of drug dealers who pressured citizens in Cauca to vote in her favor.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/24928-supreme-court-investigates-senator-for-parapolitica-ties.html