translated from Spanish: Two deaths shook the Odebrecht investigation in Colombia

the death of two engineers, father and son, shaking these days the investigations carried out in Colombia about the bribes from the Brazilian firm Odebrecht in the process of tender for the construction of public works. The judicial process in Colombia leaves so far the arrest of several former congressmen, businessmen and former officials of the national agency of a former Vice Minister of transportation and infrastructure, but these deaths added an ingredient of mystery to the case. The death of Jorge Pizano took place on Thursday of last week and was photographed by local in small spaces press because it was not known, although he had summoned as a witness by the Attorney General’s Office. Pizano, who had a lymphatic advancing cancer and a short life expectancy, was found passed out in the bathroom of her house. Although he was immediately taken to a hospital, you arrived without vital signs. The diagnosis: a fulminant heart attack. His 31-year-old son, traveled from Spain to attend the funeral. On Sunday he drank a SIP of water from a bottle which found on the desk of his father. He told relatives that he perceived a strange taste and fell to the floor, after which died at a hospital. The Institute of Legal Medicine reported Tuesday that the young engineer was killed by the ingestion of cyanide, which opened questions about his father’s death. Like his father he was suffering terminal cancer diagnosis of his death was a cardiac infarct, case did not cause suspicion and the body was cremated, which apparently lost the possibility of doing a study to detect traces of cyanide. Linked to research engineer committed suicide or died from a heart attack? His son committed suicide or in this case drinking that bottle was something accidental? These are questions that must now answer an investigation into the strange case. But the rare circumstances of those deaths joins an interview conceded Pizano to television news News one in which revealed some recordings made by 2015. The Engineer requested that these audios were only reported after his death. The newscast aired the interview and these recordings last Monday, which caused a political earthquake, as audio reveal that the current attorney general, Néstor Humberto Martínez, was allegedly aware from 2013 of some practices illegal Odebrechet in Colombia. The engineer worked in 2015 as an auditor of the work of Ruta del Sol, a complex of roads in whose process of contracting Odebrecht handed out bribes to win the bid, according to research. For his part, Martinez was the lawyer of a conglomerate of companies, one of which was linked with the construction of that work. Martinez was elected attorney general by Congress in 2016, but investigations in Colombia into bribes of Odebrecht began later, when came the scandal at the international level. The Attorney general issued a statement to indicate that the conversation recorded by Pizano said had the certainty that Odebrecht had bribed officials to meet with the agreement of the Ruta del Sol. “In fact, one of the hypotheses that Jorge Enrique Pizano contemplated was to it was payments to paramilitaries. Doubt that attended him explains the reason why not filed any complaint with authorities,”the Prosecutor argued. Although Martinez said are prevented from acting in the case of Odebrecht from the initiation of the investigation, as a result of his previous work in a company that had links with the Brazilian construction company, several members of Congress say that he should resign by this revelation of Pizano. The engineer was summoned by the Prosecutor General’s Office as a witness in proceedings against Luis Fernando Andrade, former President of the National Agency for infrastructure, one of the defendants in the case of bribes and who is under house arrest. Odebrecht admitted in December 2016 that paid bribes for more than 785 million dollars in a total of 12 countries to ensure the allocation of public works since 2001. The magnitude of the scandal was discovered after the United States Department of Justice accused Odebrecht of expanding their businesses thanks to a “Department of bribes” which operated systematically and used for payments also U.S. banks and Europeans.

Original source in Spanish