Former Colombian congresswoman Aída Merlano , who was elected as senator for the 2018-2022 period but did not take office, has escaped this prison Tuesday when she was on a medical appointment, official sources report.

The National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) has indicated on Twitter that the policy, born in Barranquilla in 1976 and representative to the Chamber between 2014 and 2018, has escaped "during a dental medical appointment at a medical center" in the north of Bogota

"The investigation is progressing," added the Inpec, which has not given more details about the escape of Merlano, which had been held since April 2018 in El Buen Pastor prison in Bogotá.

According to local media, the former congresswoman has apparently escaped from the medical appointment on a motorcycle that was waiting for her at the door of the Sabana Clinic .

The newspaper El Tiempo reports that the Inpec has requested help from the Police to find the whereabouts of the fugitive and an operation has been launched that includes the El Dorado International Airport , in Bogotá, and the bus terminals, to avoid I leave the city.

Corruption and possession of weapons

In September of last year, the State Council decreed the loss of Merlano's investment by exceeding the maximum expenses established by law for the financing of electoral campaigns. The State Council explained that the National Electoral Council established in a little more 884 million pesos (about 230,698 euros today) the maximum allowed for the campaigns.

However, Merlano spent more than 1,730 million pesos (about 452,242 euros today) in his candidacy, according to the evidence collected by the Attorney General's Office .

The investigation of that entity also indicated that the former representative to the Chamber paid more than 6,000 million pesos (about 1.5 million euros today) in votes on the Colombian Caribbean coast for the March legislative elections, made by the She was sent to jail, as was businessman Julio Gerlein , brother of former Senator Roberto Gerlein .

Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced Merlano to 15 years for concerted crimes for aggravated crime , corruption to the suffrager and illegal possession of weapons .

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