In December 2021, Emilio Archila, At that time, Counselor for the Stabilization and Consolidation of Peace, received a letter with serious indications about alleged mismanagement of royalty money with which projects are executed to consolidate peace.
(Read: Impostor!: He posed as the son of a landowner for 41 years).
A copy was sent to Paula López Vendemiati, director of the General Royalties System who, like Archila, who has a seat in the Collegiate Body for Peace Administration and Decision (Ocad-Paz), that approves projects and disbursements.
This is one of the documents that the Prosecutor’s Office will require Archila to explain to the Anti-Corruption Directorate next July 8.
In the letter, the report warns that the collegiate body (Ocad-Paz) “has taken the option of evading its obligation to respond in a timely manner to respectful citizen requests and, even more so, to the requirements of the control agencies that so they seem to deserve little interest from the technical secretariat”.
That aforementioned secretariat was charge of Alvaro Avila until a few months ago. A National Planning official, who left this entity in the midst of a series of criticisms for the evaluation that was being made of the authorized projects.
The Comptroller’s Office is claiming for the projects that were approved in the 56th session of the Ocad-Paz that the control entity requested to be revoked due to substantive doubts that existed.
According to revelations from the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO, the irregularities are found in hundreds of contracts for the installation of solar panels in the country under a budget of 750,000 million pesos.
The letter mentions that there would also be doubts about infrastructure projects, roads and even drinking water.
“Citizen complaints raised about projects in different sectors, especially road infrastructure, drinking water and sanitation, and information technology, riddled with technical deficiencies already corroborated by these control agencies, represent an imminent risk for public resources that in the themselves can be invested”, the control entity warned Archila.
And he adds: “The aforementioned technical gaps did not deserve reflection or mention by the collegiate body, and the serious decision was made to avoid responding to the questions and requirements.”
(Keep reading: Cúcuta, Valledupar and Bogotá: cities that drove inflation).
The letter also mentions the violation of the rule of equity, applying subjective judgments contrary to the principle of public function, breaking norms and putting in serious risk to public investment.
Archila, who is summoned on Friday, July 8, stated that he transferred to all the control agencies the complaints he received about the alleged tolls that the mayors were supposedly asked to prioritize their projects. Also, the pressures so that they were executed by certain contractors.
BRIEFCASE
With information from EL TIEMPO*
