After several days of expectation and movements on the Congress agenda, the Senate of the Republic will finally decide this Tuesday the future of the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonilla, with the vote on the motion of censure that It was convened in this room, in response to the accusations against this official.
Around 3:00 pm this Tuesday, October 1, the senators will decide in plenary session whether or not to approve the motion against Bonilla González, who was accused of being involved in the corruption scandal of the National Risk Management Unit, of having participated in this case, with undue pressure for the award of contracts.
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The motion of censure is a process through which the full Congress, and by absolute majority, reproaches the actions of one or several Ministers of the Office, leading to their removal from office. In simple terms, it is defined whether or not an official of these dignities is fired, considering that his actions warrant it or put the integrity of the State at risk.
This is why the decision is the first point on the agenda and although it countsThose within the Legislature do not see it feasible for Minister Bonilla’s departure to materialize, they do warn that it will not be a pending decision, mainly due to the strong opposition that the National Government faces in this chamber of Congress.
Ricardo Bonilla, Minister of Finance and Public Credit
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Minhacienda defends itself
It should be noted that as soon as this case became known, the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Ricardo Bonilla, defended himself by describing the accusations as “gossip” and made it clear that he has no problem with being requested by justice and so far he has answered all of them. the requirements that have been made in this regard.
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In this sense, he explained that his job as minister lies in asking the entities how they are executing the resources when There are projects prioritized and made viable, mentioning those of Cotorra, Saravena and Carmen de Bolívar.
However, the Prosecutor’s Office gave credibility to the allegations of the former director of the UNGRD, Olmedo López and Sneyder Pinilla, another former official of the Unit, against Minister Bonilla and his former advisor María Alejandra Benavides, for supposedly having directed the contracts of the aforementioned municipalities. in which congressmen from the third committees of the Senate and House had undue interests, as they maintain.
Faced with this, Minister Bonilla explained that he personally asked about the contracts because they were based in the UNGRD since 2021 and, although they were already in Phase 3, in the Budget discussions they found that they were not moving forward.
Plenary of the House of Representatives in the Congress of the Republic.
Pedro Vargas
“The congressmen do not ask for bribes as Olmedo and Sneyder requested. They simply do their job, which is to develop legislative activity and it is done by common agreement with the Government in terms of the Government making the proposals for the bills and Congress approving them or denies them,” Bonilla said.
Now, with all this on the table, the Senate will make a decision, based on the evidence and progress, both from the complaints and the investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office, to define whether President Gustavo Petro should be sought or not a new Minister of Finance, after the scandal that hit his government hard.
