In the last days, Sneyder Pinilla, former deputy director of Disaster Management of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) He reappeared in a video where he assured that they want to “silence” him to avoid cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office regarding the corruption scandal that affected the Risk Unit.
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Although Pinilla did not say the names of those who would have that intention, responsible for “any damage to his integrity and that of his family, to the people named in the UNGRD collaboration matrix:
“There are many powerful interests in putting me in a cell to insult me and prevent me from being able to speak and tell the truth,” said Pinilla, who said that he spent 20 days in isolation before recording the video, but that he decided to do it to avoid “it being distort the statements that I have said so far.”
Pinilla, who is advised by former anti-corruption prosecutor Luis Gustavo Moreno, awaits a beginning of opportunity with the Prosecutor’s Office, who is still studying the contributions of the former deputy director.
In dialogue with 6AM Today, Luis Gustavo Moreno, He expressed that he is concerned about the delays in arranging a denial by the accusing body and added that his client is not afraid of an arrest warrant, nor does he have any requirement to leave the country:
“Some time ago the country learned of Mr. Sneyder Pinilla’s desire to benefit from a opportunity principle, some tables began, then that written statement was made public through his lawyer and a meeting that the entire country witnessed, where we were given no more than 15 days to define the term of that negotiation so that Sneyder will not only begin to tell justice, what has to count, but also to provide evidence of the facts, Those 15 days have already passed, we are worried about that silence.”
According to the lawyer, today this responsibility rests with the Prosecutor’s Office, which is the entity that must set the terms of this negotiation to know the acts of corruption that occurred within the Risk Unit, as well as the authors and accomplices who facilitated the occurrence of those punishable conducts of that conspiracy to commit a crime.
“He’s not on the tape.”
As Moreno explained, only under the principle of opportunity would Sneyder have the obligation to go to trial as a witness and obtain a benefit in return:
“A pre-agreement would not force him to tell the country the truth, only to admit a responsibility to repay some money. Mr. Sneyder’s staging is that he can tell you in a principle of opportunity that he has several grounds in the Criminal Procedure Law and the grounds that would allow this are two, the fourth and the fifth, the fourth dismantling a network through his cooperation. criminal, a criminal structure and the fifth to appear as a witness in those trials for those conducts punishable by those crimes.”
The former prosecutor clarified that Pinilla will only give an account of what he witnessed directly while he was former deputy director of the entity and the modus operandi of how these acts of corruption were carried out: “He’s not on tape, The entire country must remember that he was the one who raised his hand when there were only press headlines and nothing was happening in the Prosecutor’s Office and that made many ask for information precisely to cooperate because they were afraid that Sneyder would break his silence.. He has even spoken of restitution of money and of complying with the demands made by the courts within the framework of that cooperation.”
On repeated occasions, Pinilla has requested protection for his family and his son. Currently, the former deputy director has a protection scheme granted by the Attorney General’s Office: “This has unleashed a number of exposed attacks, this just started against the home of some relatives and all kinds of threats. He is very grateful for this scheme that gives him some peace of mind, “But he is worried about a minor son who does not live with him.”
Sneyder Pinilla’s tests
Pinilla has not yet delivered to justice the evidence that allegedly implicates politicians in a bribery network in the UNGRD. Faced with this, Moreno commented that he has a lot of evidence, “I believe that any lawyer in this exercise, first before advising a person well, also does some acts of corroboration and verification.”
Due to the legal reservation of the process, Moreno cannot extend the confidentialitybut his client assures that he has proof of the occurrence of those events, “there is no discussion about that, that is why he raised his hand.”
For the defense lawyer, it would not be logical for Pinilla to assume his responsibility without having said evidence, since it would be a chronicle of an early sentence without any type of benefit: “I cannot tell you the names of those involved out of respect for my client. who must point them out and give details of how, when, where, who and how much they were distributed.”
Finally, the jurist commented that they have threats and monitoring by state agents to prevent cooperation from Pinilla. He added that his client has to return the money as a legal requirement:
“He is not afraid of capture, nor does he have any requirement to leave the country and here he is, yesterday we made public a document that we told the Prosecutor’s Office to tell us when where that we would see it as an act of retaliation, but if it were like that It doesn’t matter, he is ready to fulfill any calling.”
