The corruption scandal at the National Risk and Disaster Management Unit (UNGRD), which began in May when a former official there named Sneyder Pinilla confessed that the government was paying millions to congressmen to pass its social reforms, has opened a new chapter for the president. The Supreme Court, the tribunal investigating two of the legislators accused of receiving millions, Iván Name and Andrés Calle, presidents of the Senate and the House of Representatives, has asked the president to go to court to give his version of the events. The magistrate of the court, Francisco Farfán, also “ordered a judicial inspection of the offices of the Presidency and the Secretariat of the Senate and the House.” His objective, he explained, is “to obtain information on the process of the health reform and the pension reform.”
The first social reform, on health, was defeated at the beginning of April, and the second, on pensions, was approved last month and was celebrated in Plaza Bolívar by the president. The first was led by the Minister of Health, Guillermo Jaramillo, who was also called to testify by the Supreme Court. The second was led by the Minister of Labor, Gloria Inés Ramírez, who has not been implicated in this scandal. Also called before the Supreme Court was the Secretary of Transparency, Andrés Idárraga, who was implicated in the scandal by Olmedo López, former director of UNGRD and head of Sneyder Pinilla—both are collaborating with the justice system. López accused Idárraga of the crime of influence peddling, for allegedly seeking benefits for some mayors.
Former director Olmedo López has never accused Petro directly of what happened at UNGRD, and in May he even asked “President Gustavo Petro for forgiveness” for what happened in a video he shared on social media. “I believe that all of us who were involved in this unfortunate event, deplorable, because another path is the one that Mr. President has shown us in his years of struggle in Colombia, deserve for the country to know the truth,” he added.
But López has pointed to the president’s closest men. The Supreme Court’s call comes a day after it became known that López accused Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla in court in the corruption scandal at UNGRD. In a June 25 statement before the Court, revealed by Caracol News On Tuesday, López claimed to have received an order from Bonilla to direct million-dollar contracts from the UNGRD. “Contracts were awarded in exchange for the minister achieving the goal in the commission: to push forward his bill or the issue of interest that corresponds to his portfolio. But it is for congressmen, not citizens,” said the former director of the UNGRD. In other words, with contracts offered to congressmen, they were looking for them to vote in favor of some reform or issue of interest to the Ministry of Finance.
In his statement, López also mentioned the existence of a “conclave,” a series of meetings with high-ranking government officials at the Casa de Nariño. In it, supposedly, the decision was made to seek the votes of congressmen in exchange for contracts. President Gustavo Petro did not attend any of these meetings, but, according to López, the aforementioned Minister Bonilla, former Minister of the Interior Luis Fernando Velasco, and Carlos Ramón González, then director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic (Dapre) and now national director of Intelligence, were present.
By the date of the so-called conclave, Bonilla had given his approval to the approval in Congress of a budgetary addition for the UNGRD of 208 billion pesos. The bill to modify the general budget of the Nation was authored by José Antonio Ocampo, Bonilla’s predecessor in the Ministry of Finance. However, in that first version, the addition for the UNGRD did not appear, which was approved in June 2023, when Bonilla was already in charge of the portfolio. The proposal, which was presented by the liberal senator from Antioquia, Juan Diego Echavarría, said: “Minister Bonilla has favorably welcomed many of our proposals and has expressed his willingness to support the presentation of a document that completely modifies the project initially presented.”
Newsletter
Analysis of current events and the best stories from Colombia, every week in your inbox
RECEIVE THE
Minister Bonilla has denied the allegations. “I will face any examination of my official acts with respect for justice. My innocence, beyond any shadow of doubt, will prevail with evidence and arguments,” he said on his social networks.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS newsletter on Colombia and Here on the WhatsApp channeland receive all the key information on current events in the country.
#Supreme #Court #summons #Petro #testify #corruption #scandal #UNGRD