One of the corruption cases that shook this country in 2024 and that paved the way for an investigation that today has several bishops of the Petro government on the ropes, was the purchase of tank trucks in La Guajira for the Management Unit of Risk, which began as cost overruns and the obtaining of useless equipment and It currently escalated to the alleged payment of bribes in the Congress of the Republic.
Although at this moment there are investigations on several fronts and people identified and requested by authorities such as the Prosecutor’s Office, apparently the authorities forgot the genesis of everything: the tank trucks, which continue to accumulate dust and as a flag of heritage detriment, since No They can be used for what they were purchased, a situation that has forced the authorities to take action.
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One of these is the Attorney General’s Office, which convened a virtual working group with the Vice Ministry for Strategy and Planning; the Engineer Command of the National Army and the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) to continue advancing in the prompt relocation of the tank cars parked unused in La Guajira.
As explained by the control entity, this space is intended to verify the actions to address the problem related to the lack of policies and failed contractual processes to cover Risk Management assets, as well as analyze alternatives that allow guaranteeing the protection of the rights of the communities affected by water shortages in the department and in the rest of the country.
tank cars
UNGRD
“Among the follow-up topics are the conclusions of the meeting that had to be held this week in order to verify the current status of the inter-administrative agreement that aims to carry out national disaster prevention and care activities,” they stated from the entity.
The Attorney General’s Office also seeks to know how the teams located in military units such as the Cartagena Battalion located in Riohacha and the Combined Arms Task Force – FUTAM – in the municipality of Uribía are currently doing. They also want to get up to date on the expert opinion process by of insurers that were interested in the insuring process of such vehicles.
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“The UNGRD must carry the information on the beginning of the contracting process, for which they would send the publication link in the Electronic Public Contracting System – SECOP II, as well as the contracting manual that governs said process and the modality. chosen to select the contractor in charge of securing the tank cars,” they added in the statement.
The Public Ministry recalled that attendance is mandatory and that, in the event of a justified impossibility for non-appearance, the person or persons delegated to attend must have extensive knowledge of the issues to be addressed, as well as decision-making power; in order to guarantee that there is concrete progress and move towards a visible solution to this problem.
Attorney General’s Office
EL TIEMPO Archive
In total there are 40 vehicles, which began to be delivered on November 23 of last year, but which subsequently had to be stopped because they are not suitable for the areas in which they must operate, despite the fact that $46.8 billion were paid. That is, each one had an approximate cost of $1.17 billion.
According to investigations, part of these monies were apparently used to pay bribes in the Congress of the Republic, in exchange for the support of legislators for the social reforms promoted by the National Government and Today it links great officials of the House of Nariño and those close to President Petro.
