The Attorney General’s Office (Public Ministry) of Colombia filed a lawsuit to annul the agreement signed between the Foreign Ministry, the National Printing Office and the Portuguese Mint for the production of the new model of passports, a case in which several officials and former officials of Gustavo Petro’s Government are already being investigated.
In the lawsuit, published this Thursday by local media, the public body requests the “absolute nullity of the state contract” from the Administrative Court of Cundinamarcasigned on July 18 for more than one billion pesos (about 255 million dollars).
See more: Europe launches biometric control: Colombians must comply with this requirement to enter
It also asks the court to order the Portuguese Mint to return the money it has received to date for the execution of the agreement. The Public Ministry maintains, on the one hand, that the contributions of the foreign company only corresponded to 21% of the total value of the contract.without meeting the legal requirement of minimum financing of 50%.
On the other hand, it points out the omission of a competitive selection process. After learning of the lawsuit, President Petro said on his social networkcompletely of the attorney in this matter“and assured that”The country has the right to have its printing press capable of making identification documents for its citizenship.” because “Citizens’ intimate data should not remain in private commercial hands“.
See more: These are the most powerful passports in the world: where is Colombia?
The president added that he has already seen the new passport model and “It will be the fourth in quality in the world“. Due to possible irregularities in the implementation of the new passport model, In previous months, the Attorney General’s Office had already initiated disciplinary investigations against the chancellor.Pink Villavicencioand the former foreign ministers Laura Sarabia and Luis Gilberto Murillo, as well as the former head of the Presidential Office Alfredo Saade.
See more: Few look at it: the key detail in your Colombian passport that can give you problems
The controversy with the passports began in 2023 when the then chancellor, Álvaro Leyva, suspended the contract with Thomas Greg & Sons, in charge of the process for the last 17 years, alleging that in the last tender there was no free competition. To replace that signature, The Petro Government signed a memorandum of understanding and then an agreement with Portugal and the National Printing Officedespite warnings that the latter lacked the necessary technical capacity to prepare the documents.
EFE
