Scandals continue in the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), an entity described as “the jewel in the crown of corruption” by Carlos Carrillo, its current director.
According to the official, In the last hours that the questioned Olmedo López was at the head of the entity, “they signed all types of administrative acts to commit hundreds of billions of pesos.” One of these, Carrillo explained, was the one that was delivered to the lawyer Iván Alfaro, who is also the attorney in several processes of Laura Ojeda, Nicolás Petro’s partner.
In context: Director of UNGRD says that Olmedo López left contracts tied to Iván Alfaro, lawyer for Nicolás Petro’s partner
Alfaro, who already had a contract for $24 million, “he sought for one of the several law firms with which he is related, a contract for $100 million per month”. Carrillo added that to receive that contract, which is still valid, “he only accredited experience in one firm: his own, Alfaro Gómez Asociados, despite being part of several firms with his three partners.”
Iván Alfaro participated in the structuring and signed at least two resolutions in which former director Olmedo López delegated contracting responsibilities to third parties.
It is striking that the same lawyer and his firm that receives large contracts in a State entity, is the defender of the partner of the son of the President of the Republic.. “The UNGRD was too generous with Alfaro in the Olmedo days,” Carrillo said. “Ana María Castaño, the former secretary general who claims to be pregnant, tried to give the Capstone group (to which the firm Alfaro Gómez & Asociados belonged) the generous legal advisory contract the day Olmedo fell,” she added.
Alfaro is considered by Carrillo as the “shadow legal director” of the entity and would have several officials as political quotas. Alfaro, according to another complaint, also received two contracts totaling $443,858,000 under López’s direction.
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Nicolás Petro’s combo
But in addition to Alfaro’s connection as a lawyer for Ojeda, partner of the President’s eldest son, EL COLOMBIANO investigated and established that there are other powerful officials in the entity who are close to Petro Burgos and who have links, in turn, with the Colombian Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF).
This entity is also involved in the UNGRD scandal. The Attorney General’s Office opened a preliminary disciplinary investigation against Luis Eduardo Llinás Chica, director of the UIAF —who was also the campaign manager of the Antioquian congressman of the Historical Pact, Alejandro Toro—, in order to establish whether there was alleged influence peddling and undue interest in the execution of contracts with Olmedo López, who appointed José Ignacio Llinás, brother of the director of the UIAF, as liaison of the UNGRD with the Todos Somos PAZcifico Fund.
“Luis Montes Usta started with Llinás in the UIAF and then moved to the Risk Unit, but it is a combo that Nicolás Petro has, which is three people with Alfaro,” a source who requests reservation told this newspaper.
Luis Montes Usta, who worked until May 2023 at the UIAF, is an advisor to the UNGRD, also from Ciénaga de Oro, where he was a councilor for Cambio Radical and a candidate for mayor. In this regard, Carlos Carrillo himself, in an interview with W Radio, stated: “they say that Mr. Alfaro arrived because of another person who was there: Luis Montes.” Montes is close to the infamous former contractor Emilio Tapia – who would have given him a mare, as El Tiempo revealed in 2014 – and to the convicted former congressman Musa Besaile.
To this list of names is added Humberto Ripollcivil engineer, also from Ciénaga de Oro. However, director Carrillo publicly said that he had no suspicions about his work and that he will continue working at the entity, unlike Llinás, brother of the UIAF director, whose contract will not be renewed.
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International complaints
As he knew EL COLOMBIANO in scoop, in the coming days there would be complaints in international bodies about alleged extortion and corruption in the UIAF and the UNGRD by officials close to Nicolás Petro.
For now, in the midst of the “delay in document management” denounced by Carrillo, the warning of Day Vásquez, ex-partner of the President’s son, implicated in the 2022 Petro campaign scandal, resonates: “Be careful with the UNGRD. Everything is known!”.
Alfaro’s defense
Lawyer Alfaro published a statement in which he refers to the contract and his professional connection with Ojeda. “In June 2023, I entered into a contract for the provision of independent professional services with the Fiduciaria La Previsora SA – National Unit for Disaster Risk Management and the National Fund for Disaster Assistance. The activities that were agreed correspond to the provision of specialized legal services, but in no case did they contemplate the management of contracting or the organization of expenditure, since such functions correspond exclusively to the administrative areas.
Keep reading: The man who wants to remove Carrillo from the Ungrd also has a contract in the UTL of councilor Upegui
