The Comptroller of Ibagué, Edna Margarita Murcia, celebrated -on April 6- her birthday on a farm located in the upper part of the Ambalá neighborhood, which was attended by the mayor of Ibagué, Johana Aranda, and her husband Juan Arturo Gutiérrez.
It was a pompous party, there were very fine liquors and dozens of guests, among whom was the coastal senator from Cambio Radical Didier Lobo. The central show was performed by the vallenato singer Omar Geleswho, according to local businessmen, charges around $30,000,000 for a private presentation.
But what was relevant about the entertainment was not the waste of money. But the presence of the mayor and her husband, who were treated in a special way by the host of the celebration: Antonio Fajardo Rico, the enigmatic husband of the Municipal Comptroller, Edna Margarita Murcia, both natives of the department of Caquetá.
Aranda and Gutiérrez grabbed everyone’s attention, since it is not very normal for a mayor and a municipal comptroller to talk at private social events, since, In theory, they should maintain a safe distance because the first is watched by the second.
That mattered little to the president and her husband, who were always very close to Antonio Fajardo, the man accused by former mayor Andrés Hurtado of extorting officials from the Mayor’s Office of Ibagué in exchange for not investigating them from the Municipal Comptroller’s Office.
On December 6, 2022, Hurtado, in a surprising statement, assured that the Ibagué Comptroller’s Office was “an extortion company”commanded, presumably, by Antonio Fajardo, now a friend of Juan Arturo and the mayor of Ibagué. (See: Mayor Hurtado attacked the Comptroller of Ibagué: she said that her husband usurps her functions and spoke of alleged extortion)
“It is already public in my city that there is no comptroller there, there is a comptroller, the comptroller’s husband. He works in the office, usurps the functions of the comptroller, and, because of his position, there is pressure on all officials and today I want to make it public, Mr. comptroller,” Andrés Hurtado stated at the time.
This is how they would have completed a $2.1 billion business
At night, already with several drinks over him, Juan Arturo Gutiérrez would have invited, via WhatsApp, several members of the municipal cabinet to attend the Vallenato party, yes, without telling them who the party organizers were.
Everyone began to arrive when Omar Geles had already left, because that night he was performing at the Nectar Arena along with other vallenato artists.
“There was a moment when Juan Arturo and the mayor stood aside with some officials and, without any reservation, (Gutiérrez) said that they had to help Antonio with some contracts that totaled $2.1 billion. The money would come out like this: $700 for Ibal, $700 for Infibagué and $700 for the Mayor’s Office. “Johana was there, but she didn’t say anything, she stayed silent,” said one of the witnesses to the encounter.
Given the seriousness of the events, THE SENSE OF SMELL He looked for the mayor’s husband to ask him if he had attended the party of the comptroller of Ibagué, Margarita Murcia, and, if confirmed, he would be asked if he agreed on this business with Antonio Fajardo. However, Gutiérrez did not respond to the message left on his WhatsApp.
According to the sources who were at the party, the ‘favor’ for the comptroller’s husband would be in return for improving ‘relations’ between the Municipal Government and the control entities, not only the Comptroller’s Office but also the Person’s Office, since the person in charge of the latter entity, Educardo Espinosa, would also be close to Antonio Fajardo.
Espinosa was consulted for this editorial and He did not want to answer whether or not he attended Comptroller Murcia’s party. She assured that she does not know the man and that she only saw him once at the Ibagué Comptroller’s Office.
For his part, Antonio Fajardo also refrained from confirming the presence of Johana Aranda and Juan Arturo Gutiérrez, because, he said, they were “private” matters. He also denied the existence of an economic agreement with the first social manager of Ibagué.
The key piece of the puzzle
In this entire story that was kept secret, until the publication of this article, there is a key piece to this puzzle. The Investigative Unit of THE SENSE OF SMELL Not only did he get the videos of the private party but he also He obtained the proposals that came, apparently, from the company chosen by Antonio Fajardo to execute the million-dollar contracts.
This is L&S Global Service SAS, a company that offers accounting services to official entities, mainly, in the department of Caquetá, the same region from which Edna Margarita Murcia and Antonio Fajardo come.
This company offered Ibagué entities “specialized technical advice and support in updating accounting and financial information for public entities.”
In the proposal they present an execution schedule of just four months, but the number of people or their academic training is not specified. The value of the fees is $746 million, plus VAT, and an advance payment of 50% must be given with the signing of the initiation document.
“That business is crazy and nobody wants to sign that. Who thinks of paying all that money? Also, giving them a 50% advance just with the initiation document, that is suspicious. The only thing is that since the Comptroller’s Office is close to the mayor, they would not review it and if it is for themselves, then less so,” said a source from the Ibagué Mayor’s Office.
After reviewing the State contracting portal (Secop), THE SENSE OF SMELL found that L&S Global Service SAS has recently entered into contracts with the Government of Caquetá and the municipalities of Montañita and Valparaíso, in that same department.
Coincidentally, the Valparaíso contract, signed last Monday, April 22, has the same scope as the one offered in Ibagué, but the value is $150 million.
Finally, we are looking for Leonardo Andrés Soler, who appears in the proposal as manager of L&S Global Service SAS, but it was not possible for him to answer the cell phone that appears in the document.
