With One Dead Already, Widening Corruption Scandal Threatens Petro’s Presidency

Santiago Olivares Torres — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 17:44:10 +0000

The acquisition of 40 water tank trucks by Colombia’s Disaster and Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) has become the biggest scandal so far during Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s administration.

Under the Presidential Decree 2113 of 2022, a contract was signed between the UNGRD and the company Impoamericana Roger S.A.S., which delivered the vehicles in November of 2023. As of today, the trucks remain parked at two military bases: one in Uribia and another in Riohacha, both towns in the arid Colombian department of La Guajira. The vehicles cost more than $46.8 billion pesos, over $20 billion pesos more than the market price of the trucks.

Allegations are that the inflated contracts were issued to purchase the trucks from Impoamericana Roger so that the overpayments from the government were used to contribute to a giant slush fund used to bribe legislators and other politicians, to buy support for Petro’s legislative agenda, that has struggled to gain support from Colombia’s congress. Even worse, the looted funds were in part, earmaked to bring water to children in Colombia’s neglected La Guajira region literally dying of thirst from the severe drought earlier in the year.

This scandal exposed a whole criminal operation orchestrated by those involved to loot the entity’s resources, though bag-man Olmedo Lopez insists that President Gustavo Petro was unaware of the massive scheme involving multiple segments of his administration.

Sneyder Pinilla and Olmedo López. Key figures in this controversy. Photo: UNGRD

What has happened:

September 2023:

The company that bought the water tanks, Impoamericana S.A.S, was previously owned by Elmer Francisco Celis Domínguez.In September 2023, one month before closing the deal for the tanker trucks, Celis Ramírez was murdered in Cúcuta by hitmen who stole 13 million from him in the Parque 300 Años. The victim had appointed Roger Alexander Pastas Fuentes as manager, who is the current legal representative and ‘sole owner’ of the company that sold the tanker trucks.

It was under Celis’s leadership that Comercializadora Agrodomínguez S.A.S. changed its corporate name to Impoamericana Roger S.A.S. During this period, the company also expanded its business activities, as noted in its Unique Business Registry (Rues).

February 2024:

The scandal breaks out. Irregular contracts in the UNGRD are revealed by W Radio and El Tiempo, regarding the acquisition of 40 water tanker trucks intended to supply water to communities in La Guajira. This came to light when Alejandra Benavides, an official from Colombia’s Ministry of Finance (Minhacienda), conducted a routine inquiry into government spending.

When this happened, Sneyder Pinilla, a former UNGRD official, began cooperating with the Prosecutor’s Office (Fiscalía), revealing that bribes were involved in awarding these contracts.

Olmedo López, the head of the institution when the scandal broke, was at the center of the controversy. Andrés Idárraga, the Secretary of Transparency for the presidency, reported Olmedo to the oversight and judicial authorities, stating, “We will not allow anyone to profit from the rights of citizens.” He tagged the Prosecutor and Attorney General’s Offices in this tweet, leading to Olmedo’s resignation from the UNGRD.

Regarding the water trucks, the Colombian Comptroller General’s Office (CGR) began inspecting and investigating the contract to determine if there were indeed overcharges.

The UNGRD stated that the contracting was transparent and in accordance with the law.

March 2024:

In a statement, the CGR declared the alleged irregularities in the acquisition of 40 water trucks for distributing potable water in La Guajira as a matter of national impact.

The institution also stated that “the total cost of the 40 trucks, excluding VAT, should have been approximately $31.57 billion, not the $39.33 billion paid to Impoamericana Roger SAS, before VAT.”

The Comptroller also found that IMPOAMERICANA ROGER SAS was the least capable of the three bidders; its corporate purpose didn’t include the sale of water trucks, and it had only $207 million in working capital to fulfill a $46.8 billion contract.

April / May 2024:

Pinilla, through his lawyer Luis Gustavo Moreno Rivera, implicated several government officials in the scandal, including Senator Iván Name, Olmedo López, and a former UNGRD official, Luis Carlos Barreto Gantiva.

The Prosecutor’s General Office released a statement reaffirming its mission to continue the investigations, determine whether there was indeed corruption, and prosecute those responsible.

June / July 2024:

President Gustavo Petro issued a public apology, promising that those involved in the scandal would face justice and be held accountable.

Meanwhile, the CGR made significant findings as its i nvestigations continued:

After analyzing the procurement of water trucks between 2020 and 2024, the Comptroller General of the Republic reported an unusual increase of approximately 700% in procurement costs. This represents an additional $37.5 billion for this year alone for water trucks.
The Comptroller noted that this procurement appeared to be atypically concentrated in the departments of Córdoba, La Guajira, Bolívar, and Boyacá.
There are irregularities in 31 contracts related to the ‘Zero Hunger‘ program, valued at $131.812 billion.

The Prosecutor’s General Office also confirmed that Olmedo López, Sneyder Pinilla, and Luis Eduardo López were part of a criminal organization within the UNGR D. “They agreed to create a criminal enterprise to commit offenses against public administration, improperly involving themselves in the UNGRD’s private and expedited contracting processes.”

The individuals face charges of aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime, improper interest in contract execution, embezzlement for personal and third-party benefit, falsification of private documents, and ideological falsification of public documents.

Recent updates:

Olmedo López, Sneyder Pinilla, and Luis Eduardo López were detained by the Prosecutor’s Office. Other former officials, such as Luis Carlos Barreto and Pedro Rodríguez, were recently arrested as they were also charged with corruption. Barreto’s lawyer was later detained for allegedly attempting to bribe Pinilla’s lawyer.

Olmedo López testified before the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court, revealing details about the corruption within the UNGRD and implicating several government officials, including Iván Name, Andrés Calle, the former director of DAPRE Carlos Ramón González, the current Minister of Finance Ricardo Bonilla, and former advisor Sandra Ortiz.

Sandra Ortiz recently claimed to have been the victim of an attack. She received an alert indicating that the vehicle assigned to her by the National Protection Unit had brake system failures.

Edgar Rivero – Finance Colombia