The mayor of Cali, Jorge Iván Ospina Gómez, announced, through his Twitter account, the resignation of the manager of Municipal Companies of Cali (Emcali), Juan Diego Flórez.
“Engineer Juan Diego Flórez bravely fought in very difficult environments of pandemic and social unrest at the head of Emcali. His many and memorable successes, and today with dignity and before processes to clarify in personnel under his command, he decides to present resignation that I have accepted, “he wrote.
The president of the Caleños continued his message: “Now we must review everything reported in relation to acquisitions, which means a total reengineering of the personnel in charge of Juan Diego. Thank you, you know very well that I know more about your successes than stumbles. I have decided to commission the engineer Humberto Serna as manager”.
Ospina made public the letter that Flórez gave him in the last few hours, in which he indicates the following: “Respected Mr. Mayor: with this I hereby submit my resignation from the position of General Manager of Emcali EICE ESP that I have been holding since June 19, 2020. Attentively, Juan Diego Florez Gonzalez”.
The disputed contract that Municipal Companies of Cali (Emcali) awarded to the temporary union AMI 2022 to launch smart energy meters, not only contemplates the purchase of televisions for almost 43 million pesos and chairs for more than 17 million pesos , but also establishes an advance of 15,119,099,000 pesos.
SEMANA had access to the contract and learned that the commitment was signed on July 21 of this year with the full knowledge of the manager of Emcali, Juan Diego Flórez, and the legal representative of the temporary union AMI 2022, Juan Camilo Ossa Hoyos, for a value total of 215,879,358,926 pesos.
The contract began from the moment the parties affixed their signatures and runs until December 31, 2028. The document establishes that Emcali must disburse fixed amounts year after year, until the total value of the contract is paid.
The first payment was established for this year for an amount of 23,695,031,047 pesos, of which 15,119,099,000 pesos would be paid in advance and “reimbursable”, while the rest (8,575,932,047 pesos) would be canceled as ” validity payment”. “Payments will be made within twenty to thirty calendar days counted from the acceptance of the invoice,” the contract ensures.
It seems that the juicy advance that Emcali must make to the temporary union AMI 2022 has not yet been disbursed, despite the fact that the contract was signed in July and is still in force.
“What we understand is that this advance of 15 billion pesos has not yet been disbursed, but it seems very serious to us that without having given this advance, they are already seeing, in the same contract, cost overruns in very simple elements such as material. to organize a checkpoint,” Jhoni Trejos, leader of the Municipal Companies Union of Cali (Sintraemcali), told SEMANA.
In addition to purchases for inflated values of a 55-inch Smart LED television that was charged for $42,897,987 million pesos, while on the market it is at least $6 million pesos; a 24/7 intensive use ergonomic chair is listed at $17,968,474, an administrator-type workstation $49,327,594, and IP phone for workstations at $1,368,519.
“The contractual process is adjusted in such a way that they try to leave a single proponent, which happened with the temporary union AMI, a company that accumulates contracts in Emcali close to $200 billion pesos and is also a company that in the complaints at the national level is related as one of the articulators of the renewable energy cartel”, he denounced.
By following up, they were able to identify all kinds of irregular situations. “They organize the contractual process so that the participation is a single bidder, in addition to the cost overruns. And this is a very important process for Emcali, which runs until 2028 and has to do with an entire issue that the national government has arranged; it’s about smart metering,” said the union leader.