02:14 PM
The Attorney General’s Office announced that it opened an investigation against 13 councilors from Santa Fe de Antioquia who decided to spend millions of public resources to go to “train” in Cancun, one of the main tourist destinations in Mexico.
The trip took place last April and, supposedly, had the objective of training the council members of the municipality of Western Antioquia on the Council’s regulations.
As determined by the Public Ministry, the contract for the ostentatious trip was signed on February 29, in the midst of which the Council disbursed $68,500,000. According to documents that the Attorney General’s Office is already investigating, the Council paid the contractor half of the total amount to buy tickets and reserve a hotel, while the remaining amount was paid after the service was provided.
The Attorney General’s Office will investigate whether there was non-compliance with the obligations assumed by officials in relation to international travel. In the midst of its investigation, it will seek to determine what administrative responsibilities fall on the 13 councilors and any other related official. in the decision to approve the expenses, the travel itinerary for the supposed training and Who is the contractor that received the money.
In Santa Fe de Antioquia, spirits among the community are running high, as citizens point out that the municipality faces serious and urgent problems and now they have to see how the 13 councilors finished a tour of one of the most desired tourist destinations in the world, Without until now they have been able to explain convincingly why public resources from the municipality had to be spent for said trip.
At the end of January, the Attorney General’s Office also announced investigations against the eleven councilors and the secretary of the Sabaneta Council that ended in another unusual “training” in Türkiye and Dubai. The trip through the two Asian countries that lasted about 12 days had a cost of $350 million and in it the corporations sought to learn about topics such as tourism, sustainable development and innovation, according to the object of the controversial contract CPS 027-2024 signed between the Council and the Cordessol Corporation, which also cast doubts on its award and execution.
The Attorney General’s Office ordered the opening of the investigation that also seeks to delve into whether the 11 councilors and the secretary had failed to comply with their legal obligations regarding this issue. The scandal in the municipality was greater when it became known that, Coincidentally, former mayor Santiago Montoya and his wife coincided with the councilors on said trip. of which they still do not give clear explanations or demonstrate the documents that show that they really went to carry out the supposed training.
The event triggered protests among the inhabitants of Sabaneta.
The issue of trips by councilors for supposed training, which end up costing hundreds of millions of public resources of the municipalities, became a widespread problem. In Antioquia, cases have already been known in Itagüí, Sabaneta, now in Santa Fe de Antioquia. It was also known a few days ago that the mayor of Santa Rosa de Osos decided to hold a strange celebration of Teacher’s Day and sent more than 260 teachers to “train” on nutrition and mental health in Santa Marta.
