Colombia-Cartel-Scandal
7-27-1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ President Ernesto Samper announced Thursday night that he will order a congressional commission to investigate whether he is linked to the infusion of drug money into his 1994 election campaign.
Samper's televised address to the nation came a day after his election campaign treasurer was arrested on suspicion of accepting drug money to help finance last year's race, which Samper barely won.
Santiago Medina was the first member of Samper's campaign team to wind up in jail on accusations the campaign used drug money to gain the presidency.
"Colombians can be assured that, if it is proven that any (drug) money was filtered in, it entered behind my back," Samper said Thursday night.
He said he was directing a congressional commission to investigate him and to obtain all relevant material from the prosecutor general's office.
Many members of congress are believed by investigators to be linked to the Cali drug cartel, though whether any in the so-called "Commission of Accusations" are suspected of such ties was not immediately clear.
Samper said it was possible that drug traffickers filtered money into his electoral campaign to "blackmail" the government in order to weaken any offensive against the Cali cartel.
"We won't let ourselves be intimidated or blackmailed by anything or anyone," he said.
Following Medina's arrest Wednesday night, local news media immediately began speculating on who would be next, with the focus on Defense Minister Fernando Botero, who was Samper's campaign manager.
The opposition newspaper La Prensa claimed this week that Botero and Medina solicited campaign donations from the Cali cartel, then cooked the books to hide the illicit source.
Botero, on a visit to Washington, said the Samper administration fully supports the efforts by Prosecutor General Alfonso Valdivieso to investigate Cali cartel corruption of Colombian politics.
In an interview with RCN radio, he did not discuss the allegations reported by La Prensa.
Ironically, the focus on Botero comes as the United States is heaping praise on both him and Samper for the offensive the Colombian government has mounted against the Cali cartel, which controls the global cocaine trade.
The United States had complained last year that Samper was doing nothing against the cartel. In response, the government sent an elite force of soldiers and police to Cali, the southwestern city that is the cartel's home, to raid cartel properties and hunt for the kingpins.
The raids, assisted by U.S. drug and intelligence agents, have led to the arrests or surrender of five cartel leaders in less than two months. Authorities also seized property and documents that allegedly implicate thousands of people as being cartel allies.
The prosecutor general, who has total independence in his actions, is using the seized documents to expand his investigation of cartel corruption. Valdivieso told reporters he could not rule out the possibility that the trail will lead to the president himself.
The incriminating material uncovered so far includes canceled checks sent to the Samper campaign from Cali cartel front companies and lists of cartel payoffs to prominent Colombians.
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ President Ernesto Samper announced Thursday night that he will order a congressional commission to investigate whether he is linked to the infusion of drug money into his 1994 election campaign.
Samper's televised address to the nation came a day after his election campaign treasurer was arrested on suspicion of accepting drug money to help finance last year's race, which Samper barely won.
Santiago Medina was the first member of Samper's campaign team to wind up in jail on accusations the campaign used drug money to gain the presidency.
"Colombians can be assured that, if it is proven that any (drug) money was filtered in, it entered behind my back," Samper said Thursday night.
He said he was directing a congressional commission to investigate him and to obtain all relevant material from the prosecutor general's office.
Many members of congress are believed by investigators to be linked to the Cali drug cartel, though whether any in the so-called "Commission of Accusations" are suspected of such ties was not immediately clear.
Samper said it was possible that drug traffickers filtered money into his electoral campaign to "blackmail" the government in order to weaken any offensive against the Cali cartel.
"We won't let ourselves be intimidated or blackmailed by anything or anyone," he said.
Following Medina's arrest Wednesday night, local news media immediately began speculating on who would be next, with the focus on Defense Minister Fernando Botero, who was Samper's campaign manager.
The opposition newspaper La Prensa claimed this week that Botero and Medina solicited campaign donations from the Cali cartel, then cooked the books to hide the illicit source.
Botero, on a visit to Washington, said the Samper administration fully supports the efforts by Prosecutor General Alfonso Valdivieso to investigate Cali cartel corruption of Colombian politics.
In an interview with RCN radio, he did not discuss the allegations reported by La Prensa.
Ironically, the focus on Botero comes as the United States is heaping praise on both him and Samper for the offensive the Colombian government has mounted against the Cali cartel, which controls the global cocaine trade.
The United States had complained last year that Samper was doing nothing against the cartel. In response, the government sent an elite force of soldiers and police to Cali, the southwestern city that is the cartel's home, to raid cartel properties and hunt for the kingpins.
The raids, assisted by U.S. drug and intelligence agents, have led to the arrests or surrender of five cartel leaders in less than two months. Authorities also seized property and documents that allegedly implicate thousands of people as being cartel allies.
The prosecutor general, who has total independence in his actions, is using the seized documents to expand his investigation of cartel corruption. Valdivieso told reporters he could not rule out the possibility that the trail will lead to the president himself.
The incriminating material uncovered so far includes canceled checks sent to the Samper campaign from Cali cartel front companies and lists of cartel payoffs to prominent Colombians.
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