He repaid 50% of the illegally appropriated money, the Prosecutor’s Office revealed.
News Colombia.
The Colombian justice system sentenced Emilio José Tapia Aldana, a contractor accused of multiple corruption scandals, to six years and four months in prison.
The sentence, the result of a preliminary agreement with the Attorney General’s Office, included the return of $5,063 million pesos obtained illegally in two emblematic cases: the contracts of Populated Centers and the irregularities in the Municipal Companies of Cali (Emcali).
From rural schools to Emilio Tapia’s multimillion-dollar embezzlement
The most high-profile case involving Tapia dates back to 2020, when he led a fraudulent scheme to obtain a contract from the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (MinTIC).
The contract, intended to guarantee internet access in rural schools, amounted to one billion pesos.
Tapia used fictitious companies and false policies to form the Unión Temporal Centros Poblados, thus ensuring the award of the contract.
Although half of this amount has been returned through judicial titles, the rest will be covered with promissory notes backed by a property in Medellín.
Corruption in Emcali: another dark chapter
In 2021, Tapia used a fictitious consortium to win two contracts related to the Puerto Mallarino Drinking Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Cali.
The contracts, which totaled more than $6.2 billion, were obtained through falsification of bank policies.
These fraudulent documents made it possible to secure the necessary guarantee for the contracts, affecting Emcali’s management.
A sentence with multiple readings
Tapia accepted charges of embezzlement by aggravated appropriation, procedural fraud and falsification of a private document, crimes that continue to be a symbol of systematic corruption in Colombia.
The prosecutor announces that the convicted man has already repaid 50% of the illegally appropriated money:
He will serve his sentence in Barranquilla, while the authorities try to recover the resources deviated.
The prosecutor warns that Emilio Tapia invested the illegally appropriated money.
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