Former senator Mario Castaño would have died due to cardiac arrest. He was serving his sentence of 15 years and 11 months from June 2023 in La Picota prison.
Web/LN Editorial
Former Liberal senator Mario Castaño – who on March 13 managed to be re-elected in the Senate with the endorsement of the Liberal Party, but did not take office – apparently died of a heart attack in La Picota prison, as confirmed by Inpec.
Castaño was in jail after the Special Investigative Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice certified copies in which it ordered his capture for alleged participation in a corruption network that would have irregularly managed contracts in various national entities.
The former congressman, who failed to take office, was accused of having woven a network of corruption in several departments, such as Caldas, Chocó and Risaralda, with which he managed to twist million-dollar contracts in exchange for bribes so that they would remain in the hands of people directly elected by he.
Castaño had opted for an early sentence, which meant that the Court’s Investigative Chamber – which is the first instance for those with jurisdiction – suspended the investigation stage and concentrated on projecting the sentence. Finally, the Supreme Court of Justice handed down the sentence for 19 crimes related to conspiracy to commit a crime, embezzlement by appropriation, undue interest in the execution of contracts and others.
For leading this network of state corruption, the former senator was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a million-dollar fine. Through the investigation, it was established that Castaño had taken advantage of his experience as a public accountant and, with information on the nation’s finances, set up a network of corruption to deliver public works contracts in different departments in exchange for million-dollar bribes.