The Attorney General’s Officea few days before closing 2024, has already made the first decisions regarding those involved in the corruption scandal that occurred in the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD); case of which there are already seven people behind bars.
In a first instance ruling, the former directors of the entity Olmedo López, Sneyder Pinilla and Víctor Andrés Meza They were disqualified from holding public office for more than 10 years (each one has a different extension) due to the irregularities they incurred when purchasing 40 tank trucks for the department of La Guajiraa business that left cost overruns close to 16,000 million pesos.
(You can read: There were 6,000 forest fires that affected 216,000 hectares in Colombia).
The newspaper EL TIEMPO was able to access the document in which it is detailed that, with 20 years of disability, the largest sanction was for Sneyder Pinilla, former deputy director of Disaster Managementdetained in a garrison in the city of Bogotá. This is followed by former director López (also imprisoned), 18 years old, and Meza, 10 years old..
The sanctions are striking for several reasons: the first has to do with the fact that while López and Pinilla sought collaboration with the Prosecutor’s Office to have their sentences reduced, they did not do so in disciplinary terms and, for this reason, in part, the amount of the sanction. The second is that Deputy Director Meza (who alleged that his signature was forged) has not been criminally sanctioned, but in the Public Ministry’s ruling he was found responsible for not being able to refute several allegations against him.
Olmedo López, former director of the UNGRD
César Melgarejo / EL TIEMPO
The Attorney General’s process
The investigation began on February 20, when the media turned to the corruption scandal.; and included the review of more than 40 documents with which the deal was cooked up for 46.8 billion pesos.
(Continue reading: The versions of the two former Minhacienda advisors on the UNGRD case).
At the time the investigations began, López publicly stated that the purchase was “transparent“, but the opposite happened: it was proven that there was manipulation in the process to make it seem that the call was independent through three companies: Roger SAS, Luket SAS and Brand SAS.
However, this was managed by a sole contractor: Luis Eduardo Lopezimprisoned as a result of this situation.
Sneyder Pinilla.
THE TIME
In additionstatements such as that of UNGRD lawyer Gustavo Alonso Pérez were taken into account.who stated that the contracting documents were reviewed in Víctor Andrés Meza’s office, but that no irregularities were incurred.
Who has declared?
The Senator Martha Epieyu also stated about it. In a questionnaire he sent, he stated that although he met with López to talk about La Guajira, “No reference was made to the need to acquire any type of tank trucks or vehicles, nor to the value of the investment to be made.“.
(Continue reading: Laura Sarabia denies leading a plot, after being mentioned in a corruption case).
Meza, for his part, stressed: “The general subdirectorate under my charge was never aware of that pre-contractual phase or the perfection of said contract.“.
According to him, in this case they forged his signature, but the control entity concluded that “With the evidence requested by the defense to label the supply document as false, it was not possible to disprove that the signature is that of the subject or that the document is authentic.“.
tank car
X: @carlosariosl
With all the material analyzed, against Olmedo López and Sneyder Pinilla, the Public Ministry condemned that they had participated in a equity detriment of 412 million pesos in cost overruns for each of the 40 tank cars, 54% more than the true market price. For this reason, their conduct was classified as very serious as a result of fraud.
The Pinilla case has something additional, And another charge was also added for having received the 40 tank cars without the contractor completing the business..
(Further: Former counselor Sandra Ortiz is sent to prison for corruption in the UNGRD).
On Meza’s side, it was concluded that although he was not involved in the pre-contractual phase, he had the duty to “review the instruction and warn of the extra costs in the value of the supply order, and to refrain from signing as trustor of the FNGRD Autonomous Heritage, an instruction that was clearly disadvantageous to the interests of the Fund”.
These failures, When issued in the first instance, they may be appealed by each of those sanctioned..
PORTFOLIO
*With information from EL TIEMPO – JUSTICIA
