Tele-Press Conference: American Citizen, Luis F. Andrade, Speaks to Media Before Colombian Government Unjustly Imprisons Him

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Colombia's conflicted Attorney General is on a mission to silence and imprison a U.S. citizen and former head of Colombia's national infrastructure agency, Luis F. Andrade. The Attorney General's office is placing new charges against Andrade for an absurd "undue interest" related to an addendum to the Ruta del Sol 3 highway contract, that Luis did not sign.

The Prosecutor sought to imprison him last year, when he was charged for the first time. A judge did not agree, instead placing Andrade under preventive house arrest.  Now that the time limit for preventive detention has expired, a second attempt to jail him is being made, in a systemic process of harassment that does not seem to end.

In the first trial, Andrade is being charged for an equally absurd "undue interest" in an addendum to the Ruta del Sol 2 contract, where Odebrecht is the majority shareholder. The Ruta del Sol contract was awarded in December 2009. This was two years before Andrade was appointed the head of the infrastructure agency (see infographic of full timeline here).

Now Attorney General, Nestor Humberto Martinez formerly served as external counsel to Ruta del Sol 2 where he rendered a favorable legal opinion in September of 2012 on the addendum for which Andrade is now being charged.  And then he approved it as Chief of Staff to President Santos in October 2014. Disturbingly, last week, in a radio interview, Martinez denied these actions despite documents with his signature.

In his desperate attempt to besmirch Andrade, a wiretap was placed on his phone in the name of the Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA"). The DEA denied having records of requests to wiretap Andrade's phone. This leads to the suspicion that the DEA memo requesting the wiretap was forged.

Amid these contradictions, conflicts of interest, and potentially forged U.S. government documents, Attorney General Martinez continues on the warpath to convict Andrade who has a long history of standing up to Odebrecht and its partners.  It is just a matter of weeks before U.S. citizen Luis Andrade is moved from home detention to jail. It is crucial that Andrade tell his story.

SOURCE Luis F. Andrade