A decisive blow against corruption
Updated: Oct 28
The rearrest of Omar Ambuila in Operation Iceberg will mark the beginning of the end for a powerful smuggling and drug-trafficking network entrenched in Colombia’s ports for two decades.
By Juan Carlos Buitrago Arias | April 30, 2021
Image from the original article: https://www.las2orillas.co/golpe-magistral-a-la-corrupcion/
Operation Iceberg, carried out by the Fiscal and Customs Police in coordination with the Office of the Attorney General, the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI), the DIAN tax and customs authority and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), represents a major blow against corruption and smuggling networks. Its significance stems from the rearrest for extradition of Omar Ambuila at his luxury mansion in Cali’s Pance neighborhood. A DIAN official for more than 28 years and a customs inspector at the Port of Buenaventura, Ambuila had been investigated for corruption since 2004. According to financial investigators, he amassed a fortune of approximately US$25 million on a salary that did not exceed 10 million Colombian pesos per month.
Operation Iceberg exposed Ambuila’s connection to a leading DEA drug investigator, the same agent who purchased the Lamborghini for Jenny in his own name.
For almost two decades, Omar Ambuila was a key cog in corruption and the smuggling and drug-trafficking networks operating in Colombia’s ports. He was arrested on March 19, 2019, following a major investigative effort by the Attorney General’s Office and the CTI, but was released a year later after procedural time limits expired. However, prosecutors gathered substantial evidence of Ambuila’s criminal connections. The crucial link was a red Lamborghini that his daughter Jenny Ambuila displayed on social media alongside other extravagances. More than 2,500 hours of wiretaps revealed not only the extensive corruption network Ambuila had built in Colombia’s ports, but also the most powerful smuggling and drug-trafficking organizations operating from Buenaventura and Cartagena with complete impunity for over 20 years, despite the dedicated work of many committed DIAN and Fiscal and Customs Police officials.
Operation Iceberg has deeply serious implications for the hemisphere. It exposed a connection with DEA agent José Irizarry, a leading U.S. drug investigator stationed in Cartagena, who purchased the US$329,000 Lamborghini for Jenny Ambuila in the United States in his own name. According to federal investigations, he partnered with Colombian and Central American drug-trafficking organizations to allow drugs to be shipped to the United States. His trial in the Middle District of Florida brought to light his connection with Omar Ambuila and an enigmatic figure known as “the Godfather,” whom the Associated Press identified as Diego Marín, a relative of Irizarry’s wife, Nathalia Gómez, and a key business partner in this transnational criminal organization.
Customs authorities and the police are the ideal combination for containing smuggling anywhere in the world. They safeguard the nation’s economic order; when they become corrupt, they provide criminal networks with their most powerful and vital source of support. These criminal economies move US$350 billion annually worldwide. In Colombia, the figure approaches US$6 billion a year, with approximately 30% going to corrupt officials. The most effective tax reform the government could undertake would therefore be to collect the 25 trillion pesos it needs by tackling smuggling, tax evasion, illicit currency trafficking, illegal gold extraction and corruption with adequate capacity and without undue influence. It is shameful that serious corruption cases come to light thanks to cooperation with another country—in this case, pressure from Colombian criminals and their “trust” in U.S. justice, as also happened with the judicial corruption network known as the “cartel de la toga.”
The most effective tax reform would collect 25 trillion pesos by thoroughly tackling smuggling, tax evasion, illicit currency trafficking, illegal gold extraction and corruption.
The Ambuilas in customs, the Pintos in the police (the Alex Saab case), the Ricaurtes in the Supreme Court and the Morenos in the Attorney General’s Office represent the opposite of the dignity of justice, integrity and state transparency. They are criminals who infiltrated the justice system, the police and the DIAN, betrayed their oaths and values, and allowed institutions essential to democracy to be captured by powerful criminal networks. Many other corrupt officials remain entrenched in highly sensitive positions, cynically building illicit circles of influence to enrich themselves and continue feeding organized crime. Without corruption, the mafia would not exist.
Modernizing and automating the DIAN is the way to identify and root out corrupt officials. This requires standing firm against outdated, cumbersome unions and habitual institutional detractors. In the Ambuila case, one Buenaventura-based union portrayed him as an exemplary redeemer, much as Alex Saab is now portrayed as a symbol of the Bolivarian revolution. Strengthening the decisions of the Finance Ministry’s Inspector General for Taxes, Revenue and Parafiscal Contributions is essential: a month earlier, it became the first body to bar Omar Ambuila from public office for 18 years, after he used legal maneuvers to seek reinstatement. At the same time, ineffective internal disciplinary offices must be overhauled, and managers must receive exceptional discretionary powers to dismiss corrupt officials. In judicial terms, it is astonishing that some judges, instead of ordering pretrial detention for corrupt public servants, order their reinstatement at the very hearing reviewing the legality of their arrest, treating employment as a constitutional right and arguing that they pose no danger to society. Ironically, state institutions now have officials under criminal proceedings continuing to perform their duties while awaiting trial. Some have even had properties acquired through criminal practices within the state subjected to asset forfeiture. We are victims of our own inefficiency.
The Ambuila case is a decisive blow against corruption, with links to smuggling, drug trafficking and illicit money flows. A DEA agent is a key piece in this criminal machinery. It will undoubtedly mark the beginning of the end for a powerful network entrenched for more than two decades in Colombia’s ports, the National Police and other state institutions. This network threatened the textile, clothing, liquor and cigarette industries, supported by numerous allies—or rather “Godfathers”—who will have to face proceedings in the United States. They will cease to be invisible, and their enjoyment of a clandestine existence behind colorful facades as legitimate businesspeople, reminiscent of the Italian Camorra, will come to an end.
Column originally published at: https://www.las2orillas.co/golpe-magistral-a-la-corrupcion/
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