The ‘plays’ in the purchase of 40 tank trucks for the UNGRD that lead to disciplinary proceedings against its former directors

Quotes, questioned companies and testimonies are part of the elements that the control entity has to bring the three men to disciplinary proceedings.

The supposedly irregular ‘play’ was carried out in a single day, on October 12 of last year, when Sneyder Pinilla as former director of Disaster Management He recommended inquiring about the tank trucks with three companiesand hours later López ordered the quotes to be made with them, “establishing the deadline to present the quote until 6 in the afternoon of that day.”

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According to the Attorney General’s Office, hours passed and Pinilla suggested choosing Impoamericana Roger SAS -its representative is Roger Alexander Pastas- as the company to complete the business, “arguing that it had better equipment provision and did not request resources to supply the tank cars.”

However, the statement of objections states that Impoamericana bid for a value “very superior” averaged in the analysis made of the quotes, and the company sent a price of 1,280 million pesos per tank car, and the average for that purchase was 1.17 billion.

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The business was celebrated and amounted to 46.8 billion pesosa figure that came to light shortly after the scandal was uncovered.

The other ‘play’ that the researchers found is that None of the companies had “experience or technical capacity for the marketing of new vehicles.”; vehicle maintenance; trade in parts, pieces and accessories for vehicles”, and that Impoamericana, among its main activities, had to market hardware, plumbing and paint items.

Regarding this objection, those involved explained that Impoamericana did have among its functions to market carsbut for the Attorney General’s Office that falls short, since having it “does not imply per se the accreditation of experience and suitability for the execution of the contractual object.”

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The numbers of the Impoamericana company were another of the findings that generated suspicion in this case, since for the researchers the working capital in 2023 was 207 million pesos, with a net profit that year of 52 million, “so It is concluded that said contractor did not have the financial capacity to execute the object and scope of the Prevision Order“.

Another of the alleged ‘plays’ described in the statement of objections has to do with the contractor and the order to the manufacturer Kenworth de la Montaña. At this point, the order was dated November 16, and Pinilla signed a receipt document on the 23rd of that month.

“Additionally, the sales invoices for the trucks are dated November 18 and 21, the SOAT were issued on December 16 (…) and the final delivery record of the 40 tank trucks by Kenworth to Impoamericana was signed on December 16. January, indicating that The contract supervisor certified that the contractor complied satisfactorily without having actually received the 40 vehicles.“.

Regarding the alleged cost overrun, the figure found by the technical experts of the control entity is 412 million pesos per vehiclefor a total of 16,515 million (54 percent above market prices).

On April 29, the head of the UNGRD Internal Control Office sent seven contracts that the entity’s fund awarded with Impoamericana Roger from 2019 to 2022. However, in the document it says that although they are related to commercial activities of the Rues, This does not constitute its suitability in foreign trade operations involving the import or export of vehicles..

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These types of situations will be debated by the defense and the delegated attorney in the disciplinary trial stage, which could lead to a sanction against those investigated, either disqualification or suspension.

​About this case against Olmedo López, Sneyder Pinilla and Víctor Andrés Meza, the attorney Margarita Cabello He stressed on Thursday that “the actions of those disciplined could violate the principle of morality, effectiveness and economy by not giving transparent management to the resources of the UNGRD. We are going with a statement of charges, what follows is the trial stage, let’s see if we can issue a sentence quickly.“, closed the head of the Public Ministry.

Carlos López – Justice Editorial – @CarlosL49 – [email protected]