Before the Supreme Court of Justice continue the preparatory hearings for the trial against the governor of the department of Magdalena, Carlos Caicedo, for alleged acts of corruption in the demolition and remodeling of various health posts in the city of Santa Marta.
The investigation dates back to events that occurred in 2014 when Caicedo served as mayor of Santa Marta, after the signing a contract for more than 6,000 million pesos that allowed the remodeling of the Bastidas, La Candelaria, Taganga, La Paz and Mamatoco health centers.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the demolition and remodeling of health posts would have caused trauma in the provision of service to less favored communities and most vulnerable in the city.
That entity pointed out that the mayor’s office, headed by Caicedo, supposedly did not have a favorable technical opinion from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to proceed with the demolition of health infrastructures.
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The Prosecutor’s Office has stated that it has at least 96 evidence against the governor, which is divided into 80 documents and 16 testimonies, which would show that he committed the crimes of embezzlement by appropriation in favor of third parties and contract without legal requirements.
The process is in the hands of the magistrate Jorge Caldas, speaker of the investigation and who is part of the Chamber of First Instance of the Supreme Court of Justice.
In the middle of the last impeachment hearing, Governor Carlos Caicedo did not accept the charges and pleaded not guilty.
In this process, the Supreme Court of Justice recognized as victims the Mayor’s Office of Santa Marta, the ESE Alejandro Próspero and the District Comptroller’s Office.
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Last August, Carlos Caicedo left the country for information about an alleged attack against him by members of the self-defense groups and the ‘Clan del Golfo’.
The official traveled to Washington (USA) to request precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) with which its integrity can be guaranteed.
