Colombia's head prosecutor accused of negligence

The head of Colombia's prosecutor's office, Néstor Martínez (pictured), became the latest high profile investigator to get dragged into the Odebrecht bribes scandal. Recordings published by news outlet Noticias Uno show that Martínez allegedly has known of the Brazilian firm's corrupt practices since 2015, when he was a lawyer for holding Corficolombiana.

Noticias Uno received the recordings from Jorge Pizano, former head of Bogotá's water utility EAAB and a key witness in the investigation surrounding the now cancelled Ruta del Sol II highway. Before passing away from a heart attack last week, he gave both his testimony and the recordings of a conversation he had with Martínez in 2015.

At that time, Pizano had been hired as an auditor by Corficolombiana, a partner of Odebrecht in the Ruta del Sol II through a subsidiary named Estudios y Proyectos del Sol. Pizano then told Martínez about the irregularities in the contract and other Odebrecht projects in Colombia.

In response to the recordings, which emerged only yesterday, Martínez told Noticias Uno that the conversation was informal and that he didn't participate as Corficolombiana lawyer, but as a "personal friend."

He also argued that, at the time, Pizano's accusation wasn't clear. The then EAAB head couldn't say if the contract involved bribes, and, Martínez added, even theorized that Odebrecht was paying paramilitary groups.

Crucially, in March the prosecutor's office, under Martínez direction, said that it would charge Pizano with bribery, unlawful appropriation and unlawful closing of contracts over the alleged irregularities in the awarding of the Tunjuelo-Canoas tunnel in 2009, another project under scrutiny in the Odebrecht probe.

However, Pizano was never charged, daily El Espectador reported last week after his death.