The legal dispute between Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Thomas Greg & Sons for the case of the passport tender It would not resume this Thursday, January 23, as expected, since both parties presented a joint suspension memorial with the aim of keeping the process still for a few more days.
This petition was filed this Wednesday in the Judicial Management System (Samai). Informed sources assured the newspaper EL TIEMPO that the firm requires a few more days to define whether or not to withdraw the lawsuit.
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The request must be evaluated by the office of the Judge Bertha Lucy Ceballos Posada, of Section III of the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca. If accepted, the process will continue until February 4.
Chancellery
Private file
The judicial process in which the judge was pending to resolve a request for clarification of an order that mentions that an early sentence will be issued, has been frozen since last October 3, after both parties reached a consensus for Thomas Greg to study whether or not to give up his claims. Since then, the company has made several consultations with its partners about the possible termination of the process.
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It is worth remembering that this controversy, which put the future of passport manufacturing on a ‘tightrope’, occurred due to the administrative act that declared void the public tender LP-001-2023 to supply the passport production servicewhen the chancellor was Álvaro Leyva. Thomas Greg alleged the violation of his interests and rights by having obtained the highest qualification to be awarded the contract.
However, after several months, the Foreign Ministry considers that the decision to keep Thomas Greg as passport printing operator until August of this year to avoid trauma, while executing the transition stage of the model in which the Government of Portugal will train the National Printing Officemeans that any type of damage to the company is avoided, since it will maintain its expected profits.
The places authorized to carry out the passport process.
Private Archive.
The Foreign Ministry, in fact, recently signed the new contract for a total value of 206,000 million pesos, valid until August of this year. This, signed under manifest urgency, is already in force. According to what sources close to Thomas Greg revealed to EL TIEMPO, the signing is already “watching exits”
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In the event that, after carrying out her study, the company decides to insist on its claims, the procedural debate would be resumed and Judge Ceballos would have to resolve the request for clarification and, if the judge insists on issuing an early ruling and denying the evidence, The Foreign Ministry retains the possibility of filing appeals that said office would have to resolve and even the Council of State.
If they decline, the process would be closed and one of the most famous legal novels that the Nation has had to deal with in recent times could come to an end.
TIME – POLITICS
