Versión Español
EspañolThe campaign manager of Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos admitted that he accepted campaign donations from Odebrecht during the 2010 campaign.
Santos’ campaign manager Roberto Prieto said he took money from Odebrecht, a construction company involved in several corruption cases across Latin America, to pay for two million posters worth US $400,000.
Amid this revelation, Prieto denied accusations made by former Congressman Otto Bula that he received $1 million from the same company in 2014.
Prieto said told a local radio station in Colombia that he used Odebrecht’s money in Juan Manuel Santos‘s 2010 presidential campaign in 2010 in order to purchase the posters despite the campaign’s financial committee having already told him there were funds in place to buy them.
He said the campaign will recognize the transaction as having been an act of accepting illegal funds, but also said President Santos was not aware of it at the time. He invited the financial committee to come forward and explain what happened to the National Electoral Council.
“I ordered the posters with Odebrecht’s money, that was clear,” he told Blue Radio. “The campaign was financed by those who approached us. The irregular part was to collect resources from Odebrecht for the campaign. That was an irregular operation and the president had nothing to do with it.”
Prieto also said former Senator Otto Bula’s statements about Prieto receiving $1 million from Odebrecht was slander. None of the money, Prieto claimed, ever reached him.
However, he agreed to meet with Andres Giraldo, the person that allegedly received the money, but only to talk. According to Prieto, they are friends but did not do business with Odebrecht to finance the 2014 campaign.
During the interview, Prieto acknowledged that he was a contractor for Colombia and had revenues of US $2.68 million.
Source: Blu Radio
