Richard Aguilar’s lawyer responded to complaints of corruption in Santander: “He’s very calm”

“Former Senator Richard Aguilar is very calm, dedicated to defending himself, preparing his defense and fully confident that in the long term he will prove his innocence.”

This is how Iván Cancino, lawyer for former Governor Richard Aguilar, responded to

report presented by the Caracol News Investigative Unit

that collected the complaints of two key witnesses of an alleged corruption network during his government between 2012 and 2015.

It is about Claudia Yaneth Toledo, former secretary of Infrastructure of Santander, and her husband, Lenin Pardo, who in front of the cameras accused Richard Aguilar of heading an illegal organization that would have rigged contracts for half a billion pesos in exchange for juicy bribes.

“What Julián told me in that meeting was ‘Richard always have to give 10′”, said the ex-contractor Lenin Pardo in the report of last September 12.

In this regard, Iván Cancino indicated: “That there may have been irregularities? Of course, obviously these people have confessed them and the only way to lower the penalty is by involving people who have nothing to do with it, but who find it easy to create a bridge as in the case of Richard Aguilar ”.

“Apart from these witnesses, neither the contractor who supposedly gives the money nor anyone else has linked Richard Aguilar. On the other hand, they have had many contradictions, “said the lawyer.

Noticias Caracol also sought answers from the former congressman

Edwin ballesteros

, peppered by the Pardo Toledo spouses, but at the close of the broadcast at 7:00 pm he had not answered the messages sent.

Meanwhile, the investigation caused a stir in Santander, especially the revelation of a video, obtained on the computer of Julián Jaramillo, Richard Aguilar’s former adviser, where lumps of money are seen. For the Supreme Court of Justice, such evidence would evidence a bribery carousel.

“Well, Dr. Julián, to tell you that the order has already arrived here, look. Here comes the first packet, here comes the second packet, there it comes complete. And here I got the next package. Ready? So, my doctor Julián, thank you very much for the detail ”, says a man in the video as he shows the bundles of bills.

For Ferley Sierra, deputy from Santander, the Noticias Caracol report is “a tremendous journalistic work that manages to bring to the national public light a reality that has been superseded here for many years”.

“You have to govern ethically, you cannot continue governing only for private interests,” noted, for his part, the mayor of Bucaramanga, Juan Carlos Cárdenas.

The processes against former congressmen Richard Aguilar and Edwin Ballesteros will now be investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office.

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