Andrés Felipe Arias Leiva (born 4 May 1973)[2] is a Colombian economist, sentenced to 17 years and 4 months of prison for a corruption scandal during his time as Minister of Agriculture.

[3] He served as the 8th Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia from 2005 to 2009, and was a candidate for the Conservative Party nomination in the 2010 Colombian presidential election,[4] ultimately losing to Noemí Sanín Posada.

[7][8] On July 17, 2014, Andres Felipe Arias Leiva was sentenced to 17 years in jail by the Colombian Supreme Court for the AIS scandal.

Because of this, his ambassadorship designation was heavily criticized by Congress, including the then-President of the Chamber of Representatives, Carlos Alberto Zuluaga Díaz, who publicly called for him to stay in the country to prove his innocence.

[19] On 19 July 2011, the Office of the Inspector General found Arias guilty of irregularities in the misallocation of funds, and removed and disqualified him from holding a position in public service for a period of sixteen years.