By The Rio Times | Created at 2026-09-30 08:31:57 | Updated at 2026-09-30 10:19:43
2 hours ago
COLOMBIA · JUSTICE
Key Facts
- —What happened Colombia’s Supreme Court on 29 September 2026 rejected a defence request to lift the pre-trial detention of Wadith Manzur, Semana reported.
- —Who he is Manzur, a Conservative Party member of the lower house until 2026, won a Senate seat in the 8 March 2026 election.
- —The case The court is investigating him for improper bribery: backing Finance Ministry loans in 2023 allegedly in exchange for disaster-agency projects.
- —What is open Manzur has not been convicted, and he has not been sworn in as senator because he has been in custody since March 2026.
- —What comes next The criminal case continues, and the Council of State, the top administrative court, faces a claim to strip him of his seat.
Wadith Manzur, was elected to Colombia’s Senate in March and jailed three days later. He has lost his latest bid for freedom in the UNGRD bribery case.
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Colombia’s Supreme Court on 29 September 2026 refused to lift the detention of Wadith Manzur, a senator-elect in the UNGRD bribery case. Manzur will remain in La Picota prison in Bogotá while the case continues.
What the court decided
Manzur’s lawyers asked the court to review whether his detention order was legal in form and substance. The court found no grounds to free him, Semana reported late on 29 September.
“The applicant did not demonstrate that the Special Investigation Chamber had imposed pre-trial detention without jurisdiction,” the court wrote. It added that the defence had not shown any breach of procedure or of the right to a defence.
The ruling came from the court’s Special First Instance Chamber, which tries members of Congress. It reviewed a detention order issued by a separate chamber, the Special Investigation Chamber.
Why the new Senate term does not change it
The defence also pointed to a change in his status. The 2022-2026 congressional term ended, and Manzur won a seat in the new Senate.
The court said such later events fall outside this kind of review. “The review concerns the legality of the decision at the time it was issued,” it wrote.
The judges also noted that the defence did not challenge why detention was needed. That test covers whether the measure was suitable, necessary and proportionate.
The UNGRD case explained
The UNGRD is the Unidad Nacional para la Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres, Colombia’s national disaster-relief agency. Several members of Congress are under investigation over its contracts.
In November 2024, the court’s Investigation Chamber opened a formal inquiry into Manzur and five other current or former lawmakers. The charge is cohecho impropio, a form of bribery in which an official accepts improper benefits linked to his duties.
The others named were Liliana Bitar, Juan Pablo Gallo, Julián Peinado, Karen Manrique and former lawmaker Juan Diego Muñoz. The court said it relied on more than 50 documents and more than ten witness statements.
According to the court, the lawmakers sat on the Interparliamentary Public Credit Committee in 2023. That committee gives opinions on government borrowing plans presented by the Finance Ministry.
The court’s hypothesis is that they approved those plans in exchange for disaster-agency projects. The projects were in Cotorra (Córdoba), Saravena (Arauca) and Carmen de Bolívar (Bolívar).
The court also found a pattern in the timing. Thirteen of the committee’s 18 opinions in 2023 came in its last 18 days, from 28 November to 15 December.
Elected, then detained three days later
Manzur, a Conservative Party representative in the lower house, won a Senate seat on 8 March 2026 with more than 134,000 votes. Three days later, the court’s Special Investigation Chamber ordered his detention.
His detention has kept him from taking the oath since the new Congress opened in July, Semana reported. He is therefore a senator-elect, not a sitting senator.
He first stayed at a police station in Bogotá and was moved to La Picota prison in mid-September. Semana published a photo of him there dated 17 September.
The defence takes the case abroad
Manzur’s international lawyer, Víctor Mosquera, filed a complaint on 23 August with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global body of national parliaments. Its human rights committee has asked Colombian institutions to explain why Manzur has not been sworn in.
Mosquera says every option his client proposed for taking the oath while in state custody was refused. He also warns that a claim before the Council of State could strip Manzur of his mandate.
Mosquera argues that Manzur has not been convicted and keeps his political rights under the presumption of innocence. He says more than 134,000 voters are left without the senator they chose.
Pressure from inside Congress
Guerra counted Manzur among the recent chairs of the lower house’s Accusations Committee, which investigates presidents and senior judges. On 23 September, the Centro Democrático representative urged him to reveal what he knows.
“Wadith, prenda el ventilador,” Guerra said in the chamber, Semana reported. The Spanish phrase means “switch on the fan”, or spill the secrets.
Guerra said every chair of the committee under former president Gustavo Petro had moved to the Senate while its cases stalled. Manzur’s defence answers that he remains innocent until a court rules otherwise.
What comes next
The Council of State, Colombia’s highest administrative court, faces the claim that Manzur should lose his seat. No date for that decision has been announced.
The criminal case itself continues before the Supreme Court. For now, the court’s message is that a new term in Congress does not reopen a detention order already found lawful.
More: Colombia news, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Wadith Manzur in prison?
The Supreme Court ordered his pre-trial detention in March 2026 in the UNGRD bribery case. He is charged with improper bribery over alleged favours linked to disaster-agency projects, and he has not been convicted.
Is Wadith Manzur a senator?
He won a Senate seat in the 8 March 2026 election. He has never taken the oath, because he has been in custody since March. The Council of State must still rule on a claim that he should lose the seat.
Does the new Senate term change Manzur’s detention?
No. The court said the end of the 2022-2026 term and his new status fall outside this review. It only checks whether the March 2026 order was lawful when issued.
Sources: Semana · Semana · Semana · Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia
