After in December the Special Assets Society (SAE) suspend the transfer of shares of the Triple A company (provider of public water, sanitation and sewerage services in Barranquilla), this week reported that it had decided to change the company’s Board of Directors.
(EPM would buy 51% of the shares of Triple A).
This led Jaime Pumarejo, mayor of the capital of Atlántico, to denounce that the Society appropriated the utility company irregularly.
“Despite having been warned in various instances by the Comptroller’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, that it could not ignore a current contract, it has made the decision to change all the members of the board of directors, completely ignoring their contractual obligation and, in addition, generating instability in the companyPumarejo pointed out in a statement to local media.
The SAE argues that there are a series of questions about the sale process, which could generate detriment and possible embezzlement by appropriation in favor of third parties.
According to Daniel Rojas, president of the Society, the valuation made for the business was $800,000 million, while the valuation of the Superintendency of Public Services was $2.4 trillion.
(Sociedad de Activos Especiales will not assign Triple A shares).
In response to the decision announced by the entity, Pumarejo pointed out that the SAE has not complied by not making the share transfers, assuring that they should have been done before December 30. Additionally, he indicated that he will initiate legal action to enforce the District’s contractual rights.
The new Board was made up of Carlos Enrique Campillo Parra, Nicolás Corso Salamanca, Diana María Bernal Falla, Cristóbal Padilla Tejera on behalf of the SAE and Jaime Pumarejo.
According to Pumarejo, this action generates uncertainty and instability in the markets. He stated that if the SAE estimates that the company is worth $2.4 billion, the Mayor’s Office is willing to sell its shareholding to the Company. “But we should get out of this mess because what they are doing is challenging the country’s legal system.”
(Sanction to Triple A for improper charges).
It should be remembered that the District holds 14.5% of the shares of the utility company which serves about 2.8 million citizens of Barranquilla and 14 neighboring municipalities.
For his part, Daniel Rojas pointed out that the change decision of the Board of Directors will remain firm until the control entities, such as the Attorney General’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office, rule on whether or not there is a probable patrimonial detriment.
“Despite the interests and pressure to cede control of the company, he remains firm in the decision,” SAE reported.
One of the requests of the Special Assets Society after naming the new Board is that the Attorney General’s Office remain “impartial in the process and not prejudge the actions.”
This given that the delegate attorney, Luis Ramiro Escandón, requested that the Assembly be postponed “as a preventive function to avoid the configuration of unlawful damage given the actions of the SAE, they are in the process of extinction of domain by the Attorney General of the Nation and have been the object of a commercial transaction that the SAE is failing in this moment for reasons that have not yet been explained to the Attorney General’s Office.
For the moment, the Comptroller’s Office has already warned that it will carry out an investigation. Carlos Hernán Rodríguez, Comptroller General, pointed out that the entity should not inform if an acquired obligation was breached, but The SAE is the one who must notify the Comptroller if a disciplinary irregularity was committed.
In the event that it is determined that there was a detriment, the Comptroller’s Office will notify the Attorney General’s Office and a fiscal action will be initiated in order to recover the public patrimony.
BRIEFCASE
