WHILE Mayer Mizrachi, facing embezzlement charges in Panama,  continues to thumb his nose at Panamanian authorities and flaunts on Twitter  his version of events  of his  release from jail, the director in charge of the Picota detention center has been  fired.

Jorge Ramirez, director of the Penitentiary and Prison Institute of Colombia (INPEC), Ramirez told Colombian radio station La FM that Fabio Becerra had explicit orders to surrender Mizrachi, as ordered by Colombian law, to Migration, for that entity to complete its deportation process, and did not.

The afternoon of Thursday, June 30, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo noted that "the Inpec decided to fire  the official because  the Panamanian businessman was not handed over to the Colombia immigration authorities ".

The Inpec director said he does not know why, but that is already is being investigated, as well as a possible bribe.

"He was given a very clear order to coordinate with immigration. I have already ordered an administrative investigation and a criminal investigation, for possibly accepting a bribe in the case.

Immigration officials filed a complaint into the matter last week. Mizrachi was slated to be deported to Panama to face criminal charges related to a contract he received from the government's innovation agency to encrypt communications by security officials.