2023-07-29 04:46:17
For at least two hours, the full Ecopetrol board of directors met last Friday, behind closed doors, with the Dijín leadership.
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Under absolute secrecy, details of the transnational investigation into Colombian crude smuggling were exposed, a scandal that this week even led President Gustavo Petro to speak out.
One of the vessels that was seized.
Photo:
Provided by authorities.
The links of the elite
The case – which had been under investigation since 2016 – exploded in the president’s networks 9 days after EL TIEMPO exclusively revealed that 1.3 trillion pesos in properties had been seized from renowned businessmen in the hydrocarbons sector and even from the representative of a multinational with headquarters in Switzerland: Gunvor Colombia SAS
“This Dijín investigation shows one of the biggest robberies of the Colombian State. Nearly 80 million dollars in oil were stolen and the criminals were “good people” from the wealthiest sectors of the country. It must be investigated whether the theft had support from within Ecopetrol”, President Petro wrote.
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However, the state oil company became a victim in the criminal proceedings and, as confirmed to the Ecopetrol board by the director of Dijín, General José Luis Ramírez, until now no official has been involved.
Gustavo Petro launched one of the trills on the morning of Tuesday, July 25.
Photo:
Nestor Gomez. TIME
Ramírez also anticipated that a new phase of the ‘Bunkering empire’ operation is coming with more captures of key players in the sector.
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And although the Prosecutor’s Office presented the indictment against 10 implicated, on January 17, the accusations for conspiracy to commit a crime, hydrocarbon smuggling, falsification of private documents and receipt begin until next October.
Dijin agents participated in the investigation.
Photo:
Provided by authorities.
Among the defendants in the case is Hernando Silva Bickenbach, legal representative of the firm Niman Commerce SAS
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The businessman, a member of a prestigious Bogotá family, is described by the Prosecutor’s Office as “one of the main promoters of the purchase, sale and/or receipt of hydrocarbons that are distributed illegally.”
Hernando Silva Bickenbach, legal representative of Niman Commerce.
Photo:
Link: Hernando Silva Bickebach
“It has a great financial muscle that allows it, through Niman Commerce SAS, to be the main buyer of hydrocarbons that come from companies not authorized for its commercialization; and be the main supplier”, says the accusation.
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And although his defense told this newspaper that Silva Bickenbach is completely innocent and that the absence of participation in the facts will be demonstrated in court, the Prosecutor’s Office thinks differently.
He points out that Niman – the firm that Silva Bickenbach created in 2016 with his brother Felipe (his twin) and with 5 million pesos – “does not have authorizations for the purchase, sale and/or commercialization of hydrocarbons higher than 14° API”, the one who moved illegally.
‘The cousin’
According to the investigation – whose first chapter was revealed by EL TIEMPO in 2020 – the hydrocarbon that would have reached Gunvor, through Niman Commerce SAS, had two shady origins.
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A part was smuggled in from Venezuela, in tanker trucks, coming from PDVSA.
In fact, they do not rule out that this crude, of lower quality, is part of the corruption scandal that has been shaking the regime of Nicolás Maduro and his state oil company for several months.
One of the refineries of Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA)
But most of the illegally traded hydrocarbon is stolen by the ELN at various points along the Caño Limón-Coveñas pipeline.
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An informant, known as ‘El primo’ – linked to an oil and gas pipeline construction company – provided key information. He assured that workers from that company, victims of extortion, have supplied the ELN with uniforms for Ecopetrol contractors, which makes it easier for them to move the stolen crude.
The house in Anapoima
The Prosecutor’s Office says that the ELN was part of the chain that stole oil.
Photo:
File EL TIEMPO and supplied by authorities.
The Eln – which is requesting maintenance for its chief negotiators with the Government – denied the claims of the Prosecutor’s Office and Dijín of being behind the oil theft.
“The accusations of the Prosecutor’s Office are false, when they associate us in the big deals that have come to light in recent days, in which they have compromised several companies that sell the product, including Niman Commerce SAS,” the report reads. statement published by the ELN dialogue delegation.
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Gunvor Colombia SAS, for its part, has been emphatic that none of its directors is linked to the investigation. And in that the only entangled is Roger Arturo Gale Gutiérrez, ex-coordinating engineer of the company.
In fact, since the firm has no assets in Colombia, its legal representative, Jaime Alejandro Hoyos Juliao, had his share in a luxurious summer house in Anapoima (Cundinamarca) seized; and a ruby red Ford Explorer van, valued at 139 million pesos.
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In addition, Gunvor has to report to a general representative, appointed by the Special Assets Society (SAE), who came to his offices, in the ninth race with 113th street, north of Bogotá.
Ecopetrol issued a statement last Thursday referring to the case.
EL TIEMPO also established that possible ties are being investigated between former Gunvor executives and Niman, the Silva Bickenbach firm, their supplier.
(Keep reading: PDVSA and a former Ecopetrol employee, key players in the looting of Colombian crude)
In addition, a forensic report that Ecopetrol ordered last year to all the contracts of its affiliates with Gunvor is reviewed.
Inconsistencies and alterations found in the crude oil transport guides, and what had already been found in the investigation, led Ecopetrol to terminate 11 contracts with Gunvor.
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However, the firm hopes to recover them when the investigation is complete.
Another of the boats seized in the process.
Photo:
Provided by authorities.
Drivers with a record
“The termination of the contracts that Gunvor Colombia had for more than 5 years, for the use of the different systems, was unfairly invoked by the companies of the Ecopetrol Group, without adequate evidence of the alleged breach by Gunvor Colombia of its compliance policies, related to with the systems on money laundering, financing of terrorism and corruption”, Gunvor spokespersons explained.
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And they added: “The company accredited the non-existence of acts that led to the conclusions, among others, of the audit carried out by subsidiaries of Ecopetrol, such as Cenit and Ocensa.”
Another of the boats that were seized.
This newspaper learned that in addition to inconsistencies in the guides, three drivers who transported product despite having a criminal record were identified.
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But Gunvor alleges that it was not responsible for verifying background information and “it was Cenit and Ocensa that had direct and initial knowledge of this data, in accordance with the unique transport guides in which the real information on the characteristics of the transported product was declared and the identification of the drivers and parties involved in each operation”.
According to President Petro, the looting in this case alone exceeds 360,000 million pesos. But the figure may increase in the coming days, as well as the catches.
Those investigated and the fortune that they seized
Roger Gale Gutierrez, Gunvor’s former chief logistics officer.
EL TIEMPO revealed the seizure of assets of 17 people and 40 firms involved in the alleged smuggling of crude oil. They are worth 1.3 trillion pesos, including boats, buildings and lots.
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According to the indictment, there are 10 investigated. Hernando Silva Bickenbach, legal representative of Niman Commerce; Roger Gale, commercial engineer at Gunvor Colombia SAS; Paola Sánchez, assistant manager of Swiss Terminal; and Jaime Fernández, marketer. In addition, José Gabriel Márquez Santos, Margarita Delgado García, Óscar Luis Pastrana, Hiklirs Abraham Rincones Joiro, Jairo Hernán Devia Cubillos and Sergio Fortich Pérez. None accepted charges and third parties have declared themselves in good faith.
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