Pereira
Members of the CTI of the Risaralda Sectional Prosecutor’s Office moved towards Bogotá, city where the capture of the former mayor of Pereira, Carlos Alberto Maya López, took placein the facilities of the Externado University, concerning alleged irregularities in the Avenida Los Colibríes road project.
In parallel, in Pereira, also The former municipal infrastructure secretary, Milton Hurtado García, was captured, who is also investigated for these events. Next to them, there is another person, who responds to the name of José Alberto Rojas Prieto, who would be the legal representative of the Consortium.
The former president of the city was transferred by land from Bogotá to the Prosecutor’s Office bunker in Pereira, where He was presented before the Third Municipal Criminal Judge with the Guarantee Control Function, who legalized his capture and the search carried out in his home.in a prestigious sector of the city.
First hearings.
The investigations of the Risaralda Sectional Prosecutor’s Office point out to a possible patrimonial detriment that would exceed $10 billion pesos.
The hearings to control the legality of the search and arrests took place between Saturday afternoon and 3:00 a.m. on Sunday. Their development led those involved in the session to ask the judge to suspend and reschedule the charging hearing for todaywhich was granted by the authority, prior to the agreement of all parties.
In the next few hours the accusing body will charge the crimes of ideological falsehood in a public document, destruction, suppression or concealment of a public document, embezzlement by appropriation, contract without compliance with legal requirements and procedural fraud.
In addition, They will remain deprived of their liberty until the hearing on charges is held and immediately afterward the imposition of a restraining order.
It is the first time that a former mayor of Pereira has been captured and accused of alleged acts of corruption. For which, at this point, it is worth highlighting that The former president was awarded as the best ruler of the period 2020-2023 for cities with less than 500,001 inhabitants, granted by Colombia Líder.
What are these irregularities?
The Colibríes Avenue, was the project emblem of the government of former mayor Carlos Maya, which would benefit more than 30 thousand Pereiransin a sector of residential and productive growth in Pereira, this was confirmed by the former municipal president in the first stages of construction.
On the part of citizen oversight bodies, political leaders, congressmen and citizens in general, For more than a year, alleged irregularities have been reported in the execution of this workwhose initial value was $31,860 millionand ended with budget additions worth $20.3 billionthus achieving a total of $52,161 million pesos.
As main findings due to non-compliance with the work, 400 meters missing of intervention become relevant, failures in the paving of some sections that should have a thickness of 11 centimeters for a duration of 10 years, and that was delivered with 7.5 centimeters, reducing its useful life. Alleged inconsistencies in the width of the road and the number of agreed lanes, and, in turn, irregularities were reported in the construction and adaptation of sewage networks, cobbled platforms, the construction of cycle lanes, forestry implementations, lighting, signage, among others.
To the above, add the entire contracting issue, the lack of documentation that would account for non-compliance in deliveries. Phase I of this work had as initial completion date in November 2023by not complying, the deadlines were extended to March 15, 2024 and there is no support that indicates the purpose of the contract and the settlement document.
Other inconsistencies in the project were the payment of an advance payment of $12,745 million, equivalent to 40% of the contract value.
From 18 months ago, complaints began to be made known about alleged irregularities and delays in the Los Colibríes Avenue project. Time when requests for an exhaustive investigation were initiated.
Would these non-compliances, the project and the consortium that led the work have a relationship with the Clan del Golfo?
The representative to the Chamber for Risaralda, Carolina Giraldo, who denounced the alleged links of this criminal organization with companies that would manage public lighting in 16 municipalities in nine departments of Colombia, and where, apparently, Some of these consortia would be related to the designs of infrastructure projects, among which would be Los Colibríes Avenue.
The congresswoman, in a document sent to the Prosecutor’s Office, detrevealed these alleged irregularities and the alleged links of the Clan del Golfo with a company that would be in charge of the audit process.
On March 15 of this year, Mayor Mauricio Salazar, received the unfinished work from the contractorand publicly denounced the Cerritos Vial Prosperidad Consortiumin charge of the first stage of this project and apologized to the Pereira community, said that the work was a “white elephant and a monument to corruption.”
Following the request made by Congressman Alejandro Garcíaon June 15, the Comptroller General of the Republic, ordered an exceptional functional intervention to the work on Avenida Los Colibrís. A commission headed by the vice comptroller, Carlos Mario Zuluaga, and with the accompaniment of the representative to the Chamber and the citizen oversight, They covered the 3.4 kilometers of the projectverifying the alleged irregularities and corroborating the project as an unfinished construction.
