Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos acknowledged on Tuesday that his 2010 presidential campaign accepted illegal contributions from Brazilian builder Odebrecht but insisted he was unaware of the illicit funding.
In a video message on Twitter, Santos said he “absolutely rejects” the payments and apologized to Colombians, calling the revelation “an embarrassing episode… that I have just learned about.”
The revelation marked the latest development in the Odebrecht bribery scandal to rattle Latin America’s political establishment after the company admitted late last year it paid some $800m in bribes to win public works projects throughout the region.
Santos’ comments came hours after one of his former campaign managers, Roberto Prieto, said Odebrecht had spent $400,000 on campaign posters. Prieto, speaking to Colombia’s Blu Radio, said Santos “did not have anything to do” with the financing from Odebrecht. Under Colombian law, foreign-owned firms are prohibited from making campaign contributions.
Santos did not mention Odebrecht by name in his message. “I am deeply sorry,” he said. “I did not authorize or have any knowledge of these activities, which were done in direct violation of the ethical and control standards that I demanded be put in place by my campaign.”
He urged authorities to investigate the payments and called on those involved to clear up exactly what happened.
In his comments, Prieto said Odebrecht’s payments to buy two million campaign posters were made through a marketing company. He said the payments were arranged by the financing committee of Santos’ campaign.
“The financing committee needs to come out and acknowledge [Odebrecht’s contribution] originated with them and was irregular,” he said. “And, in the process, we have made the president look bad.”