A prosecutor delegated to the Supreme Court of Justice charged this Tuesday, August 9, the former mayor of Medellín, Alonso Salazar, with presumed responsible for the crime of undue interest in the execution of contracts, in the Hidroituango case.
Like him, the former manager of the Institute for the Development of Antioquia (IDEA), Álvaro de Jesús Vásquez Osorio and the former general manager of the Public Companies of Medellín (EPM), Federico Restrepo, are charged.
According to the report sent by the Prosecutor’s Office, “in the investigation it was learned that the defendants intervened in the discussions that allowed a contract called BOOMT (construction, operation, possession, maintenance and final transfer) to be concluded on March 30. from 2011, that it would have ignored the principles of contractual good faith, planning, transparency, economy, responsibility and objective selection“.
None of the defendants accepted charges.
Added the accusing entity, the selection process was changed and went from being an international invitation to a direct contract with EPM. The decision, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, would have obeyed a regional criterion that sought for the project to remain in the hands of a company from Antioquia.
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Apparently, the defendants intervened in the discussions that allowed the execution of a contract called BOOMT, on March 30, 2011, which would have ignored the principles of contractual good faith, planning, transparency, economy, responsibility and objective selection. pic.twitter.com/ytgAQ7DkbB
– Colombia Prosecutor (@FiscaliaCol) August 9, 2022
“The evidence indicates that the negotiation with EPM was carried out to take charge directly or indirectly, through a company under its control, of the financing and execution of the hydroelectric plant,” added the Prosecutor’s Office.
It is for the above that, presumably, irregularities were incurred to achieve a shareholders’ agreement, appointing a new manager of Hidroituango SA ESP and modifying the Contracting Manual.
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On the other hand, Mauricio Pava, lawyer for Salazar and Restrepo, stated that the Prosecutor’s Office accused them of having been interested in favor of the municipality of Medellín and EPM, as a 100% public company, ruling out other foreign companies such as Odebrecht, China Three Gorges Corporation ( China), Korea Electric Power Corporation (Korea), among others.
“We do not agree with this vision and we have complete peace of mind to appear before the judge and demonstrate transparent, coherent actions. This trial will be the opportunity to promote a social, technical and transparent control that in the future will allow a correct and polite exercise of punitive power,” Pava said.
MEDELLÍN