Colombia’s ambassador to US implicated in land theft scandal

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia’s ambassador to US implicated in land theft scandal
posted by Adriaan Alsema
Jun 17, 2013



Colombia’s ambassador to the United States is implicated in the fraudulent legalizing of stolen lands for major Colombian companies, a Colombian senator said Sunday. According to opposition Senator Jorge Robledo, ambassador Carlos Urrutia’s former company, law firm Brigard & Urrutia, helped major companies like cement monopolist Argos and business mogul German Efromovich to illegally obtain stolen land.

Robledo claimed that the cases involving Urrutia’s former company demonstrate how Colombia’s top companies and businessmen were involved in the usurping of land through displacement, theft and avoiding legislation that put limits to the amount of land that may be privately owned.

According to the opposition senator, the ambassador’s former company fraudulently helped formalize large companies’ ownership of some 100,000 acres of land in central Colombia, transactions that are currently being investigated by the Superintendent for Notaries and Registries.

Robledo said the Superintendent had been conservative when estimating the Colombian state lost 1.7 million acres of land to corruption and called on authorities to investigate to find how much more had illegally been appropriated by established companies.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombias-ambassador-to-washington-implicated-in-land-theft-scandal/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Less than a year ago:Colombia set to appoint new ambassador to US: Report

Jul 11, 2012
Colombia set to appoint new ambassador to US: Report
posted by Esteban Refshauge

President Juan Manuel Santos is set to confirm a childhood friend as Colombia’s new ambassador to Washington, W Radio reported Tuesday.

~snip~

The new ambassador will also be charged with advocating for Colombia’s relevance to U.S. lawmakers in Washington. The U.S. has had extensive involvement in Colombia over the past decade. During the first Uribe administration, for example, Colombia was the third greatest recipient of U.S. military aid. However, military aid has steadily decreased since then.

Although Urrutia has no diplomatic experience, he is a co-owner of Bogota-based law firm “Brigard & Urrutia Lawyers.” The company specializes in international transactions, mergers, acquisitions and litigation. Areas that are relevant to Colombian trade with the US.

Urrutia hails from the same Bogota elite as President Santos. Both come from the same generation and social group. In 2010, Urrutia openly supported Santos’ campaign for the presidency, yet is not readily identified as a partisan political operator. In addition to his native Spanish, Urrutia speaks fluent English and French.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-set-to-appoint-new-ambassador-to-us-report/