Colombian prosecutors on Monday charged two former senior members of President Gustavo Petro’s government in what authorities describe as a wide-ranging congressional vote-buying scheme, deepening a political scandal that has already resulted in multiple arrests at the highest levels of the country’s legislature.
Ricardo Bonilla, a former finance minister, and Luis Fernando Velasco, who served as interior minister, were formally accused of conspiring with officials in state agencies to divert public funds to companies linked to members of Congress and their political allies. In return, prosecutors say, lawmakers backed major government-sponsored legislation, including a controversial reform of Colombia’s pension system.
The alleged scheme involved contracts worth “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to the charges. The former ministers are accused of criminal association, bribery, and undue conflict of interest in contracting—offenses that could carry sentences of up to 27 years in prison if they are convicted. Both have denied wrongdoing.
The corruption case marks the latest in a series of legal actions targeting current and former public officials. In recent weeks, the former heads of both the Senate and the House of Representatives were arrested after being accused of receiving bribes in exchange for supporting the Petro administration’s legislative agenda.
Bonilla, a veteran economist and long-time adviser to President Petro, resigned last year amid growing allegations of involvement in the scheme. Speaking during a court hearing in Bogotá, the 75-year-old insisted he was innocent. “I have the certainty that I have not committed any crime,” he said.
President Petro has repeatedly rejected the accusations and suggested that the investigations are part of an effort to destabilize his government. “These proceedings are clearly political,” Petro has argued in public remarks, framing the charges as attacks on his reform agenda.
Prosecutors say the diverted funds primarily came from a national disaster prevention agency. Its former director is also facing charges, as investigators continue to examine how public resources were allegedly repurposed to secure congressional support.
The case now moves to the courts, where one of Colombia’s most significant corruption scandals in recent years is expected to take shape—testing the administration’s political standing and adding new uncertainty to the fate of its reform priorities.
By FCCT Editorial Team
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