The Supreme Court of Justice This Tuesday an investigation was opened against the former presidents of the Senate Iván Name and of the House of Representatives Andrés Calle for his alleged involvement in acts of corruption in a state unit, which includes several members of the Government and Congress.
Senator Name, of the Green Alliance, and Representative Calle, of the Liberal Party, They were accused of the crimes of improper bribery and embezzlement for appropriation in favor of third parties.in an investigation related to the awarding of contracts of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD)the Court detailed in a statement.
(You can read: Risks of the 2025 budget are not resolved and continue to threaten investment).
In these contracts, the information added, the congressmen “they would have intervened” as “presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives” and “they would have received cash payments from the former deputy director of Disaster Management” of UNGRD Sneyder Pinilla.
“The legislators would have committed, in exchange for the supposed delivery of the resources, to promote reforms that were pending in Congress and that had been filed by the National Government. This money, apparently, would have been allocated by the congressmen to finance campaigns for the elections of local and regional leaders (2023).“, detailed the Court.
As Pinilla revealed on May 3, UNGRD money was used in 2023 to pay millionaire bribes to Name and Calle.
(Further: Government reorganizes Military Forces in search of better results: this is how they remained).
That money was allegedly diverted from that allocated for the purchase of 40 tanker trucks to supply water to the department of La Guajira.a project in which resources were misappropriated because the vehicles purchased did not meet the technical conditions, among other failures.
The corruption scandal in the UNGRD, an organization that is responsible for attending to and preventing emergencies caused by natural disasters in the country, It was uncovered by the press last February and since then it has grown to reach high-ranking government officials..
(Further: Opposition was left with majorities among the speakers of the Financing Law).
Among those mentioned is the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonillawho according to the Prosecutor’s Office was decisive, in coordination with the former director of the UNGRD Olmedo Lópezfor the award of three contracts for 92,000 million pesos (about 20.7 million dollars) to benefit six congressmen in exchange for supporting the expansion of the Government’s debt quota.
Likewise, the former director of the National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) Carlos Ramón Gonzálezone of the closest people to President Gustavo Petro, was identified by the Prosecutor’s Office as the person who last year ordered the payment of bribes to two important congressmen in exchange for legislative support for the Government.
EFE