Colombia-Drugs-Politics
8-1-1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ Defense Minister Fernando Botero says he never accepted contributions from drug traffickers when he headed President Ernesto Samper's election campaign last year.
Nor did he hold a secret bank account in New York where Cali drug cartel donations were deposited, Botero told a news conference Monday.
"That's false," Botero said, responding to a radio report. "The campaign never had accounts abroad."
RCN radio reported Monday that former campaign treasurer Santiago Medina, who was arrested last week on charges of accepting a $50,000 check from the Cali cartel, told prosecutors Botero held a secret campaign account during the campaign.
U.S. officials have long suspected that Samper's campaign accepted drug money. On tapes released last year, members of the Cali cartel _ which supplies 80 percent of the world's cocaine _ are heard discussing the contribution of millions of dollars.
Bernardo Hoyos, a priest and former mayor who met recently with cartel kingpins, said he heard audiotapes that indicate Botero asked traffickers for money, according to La Prensa of Bogota, an opposition newspaper.
In the tapes of telephone conversations, drug traffickers reportedly refer to "the son of the painter," presumably a reference to Botero, whose father is the internationally known artist of the same name.
The prosecutor general accused the government Monday of meddling in his investigation into whether Samper's election campaign accepted contributions from drug traffickers.
Alfonso Valdivieso also said that his employees' offices had been broken into and robbed of copies of secret testimony alleging senior government officials have links to the Cali cartel.
Prosecutors have been focusing recently on the Cali cartel's influence in Colombian politics and have been investigating whether more than a dozen congressmen took drug money.
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ Defense Minister Fernando Botero says he never accepted contributions from drug traffickers when he headed President Ernesto Samper's election campaign last year.
Nor did he hold a secret bank account in New York where Cali drug cartel donations were deposited, Botero told a news conference Monday.
"That's false," Botero said, responding to a radio report. "The campaign never had accounts abroad."
RCN radio reported Monday that former campaign treasurer Santiago Medina, who was arrested last week on charges of accepting a $50,000 check from the Cali cartel, told prosecutors Botero held a secret campaign account during the campaign.
U.S. officials have long suspected that Samper's campaign accepted drug money. On tapes released last year, members of the Cali cartel _ which supplies 80 percent of the world's cocaine _ are heard discussing the contribution of millions of dollars.
Bernardo Hoyos, a priest and former mayor who met recently with cartel kingpins, said he heard audiotapes that indicate Botero asked traffickers for money, according to La Prensa of Bogota, an opposition newspaper.
In the tapes of telephone conversations, drug traffickers reportedly refer to "the son of the painter," presumably a reference to Botero, whose father is the internationally known artist of the same name.
The prosecutor general accused the government Monday of meddling in his investigation into whether Samper's election campaign accepted contributions from drug traffickers.
Alfonso Valdivieso also said that his employees' offices had been broken into and robbed of copies of secret testimony alleging senior government officials have links to the Cali cartel.
Prosecutors have been focusing recently on the Cali cartel's influence in Colombian politics and have been investigating whether more than a dozen congressmen took drug money.
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