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Bogota: Colombia government officials declared a state of emergency on Monday, boosting their powers of arrest and money seizure to help deal with multimillion-dollar investment scams that have targeted mostly poor investors.
The measure came after panic spread among investors across Colombia last week after one suspect financial agency halted payments. Disturbances broke out in 12 states, police said, and investors stormed offices in the southwestern cites of Pasto and Popayan, threatening to lynch the managers.
Police closed 59 offices of DMG, one of the largest of dozens of several companies under investigation. General Orlando Paez Baron told reporters that he had stationed riot police at the offices in advance of seizing records and confiscating the company's remaining cash. Police have arrested 52 employees from several financial agencies on suspicion of fraud, confiscating $30 million (Dh110 million) that they say will be distributed to investors.
In announcing the state of emergency, President Alvaro Uribe's office said the measure was taken in view of "serious deterioration in public order" in connection with "massive illegal collection of public funds". Authorities said the schemes fit the classic definition of pyramid or Ponzi schemes, with promoters promising sky-high profits to attract cash that was then used to pay existing investors and line the pockets of firm officials.
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