The Attorney General’s Office found that both the then governor of Santander, Mauricio Aguilar Hurtado; such as César Augusto García Durán, Director of Risk Management and Sergio Orlando Ferro Dávila, supervisor of contract 541 of 2020, would have failed to comply with “their duty to verify the contract.”
The Attorney General’s Office formulated statement of charges against the former governor of Santander, Nerthink Mauricio Aguilar Hurtadoas Departmental Mandatory, “for the alleged commission of a very serious offense… as a result of very serious fault.”
Charges were also filed against three other departmental officials on the date of the events investigated.
The alleged irregularities would have been committed with the signing of contract number 541 of 2020, because “none of those involved fulfilled their duty to verify the contract.”
For this reason, the department paid an approximate monthly value of thirteen million nine hundred fifty-six thousand two hundred fifty pesos ($13,956,250) for a service that was not provided, a value that extended throughout the duration of the contract.
The purpose of the aforementioned contract was:
“Provision of technological platform services to provide information and specialized attention through a call center to the community, in everything related to Covid-19, in accordance with (sic) the situation of public calamity declared by Decree No. 193 of the March 16, 2020″.
The contract had a fixed initial execution period of three (3) months and a budget of seven hundred and forty-two million, eight hundred and seventy-one thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos ($742,871,250), with the firm ADVANCE TECHNOLOGIES & SOLUTIONS GROPUS SAS.
This company is identified with NIT number 900.324.056-8, and its legal representative is Mrs. Viviana Ojeda Bernal.
The others involved
For the same reasons: alleged irregularities in the hiring of the Departmental Risk Management Office, the Public Ministry He also formulated a statement of objections against César Augusto García Durán, in his capacity as Director of that entity during that administration.
Sergio Orlando Ferro Dávila, supervisor of contract 541 of 2020 and the Legal Advisor of the Government of Santander at the time of the events, Nathaly Arenas Jaimes, They are the other officials of Mauricio Aguilar Hurtado’s administration covered by the decision.
The facts:
On March 25, 2020, Mr. Cesar Augusto Garcia Duran, as Director of Risk Management, assigned supervision to Sergio Orlando Ferro Davilawho signed the supervisor’s reports for contract number 541 of 2020.
On April 16, 2020, Ms. Viviana Ojeda Bernal, as Administrative Manager and legal representative of ADVANCE TECHNOLOGIES & SOLUTIONS GROPUS SAS -Atek Group-, signed a document addressed to the contract supervisor.
The aforementioned document clearly details the components of the proposal and breaks down, among other aspects, the professionals who would provide the service as follows: “Service of two epidemiologists, two doctors and two specialized call center coordinators.”
The cost of these professionals was ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN MILLION, FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE THOUSAND PESOS ($167,475,000).
On June 23, 2020, the Director of Risk Management signed an addendum to the contract, by which the execution time was extended by 2 months and the value of FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY TWO MILLION, TWO HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED PESOS ($ 472,247,500) was added.
In addition, García Durán, as Director of Risk Management, signed an additional agreement to the contract, number 2 (no date visible in the document).
The objective was to extend the execution time by 4 months and the value of NINE HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR MILLION, NINETY-FIVE THOUSAND PESOS ($944,095,000) was added.
The complaint:
Through a document filed on May 10, 2021 before the Attorney General’s Office, the citizen oversight identified as [email protected]filed a disciplinary complaint against public servants of the Government of Santander.
The complaint was filed for: “alleged irregularities in the signing and execution of contract number 541 of 2020, pointing out possible cost overruns in the process and shortcomings in the execution of the contract.”
The complaint document indicated that the members of the contracting company contributed resources to the political campaign of Nerthink Mauricio Aguilar Hurtado, to the Government of Santander, for the period 2020-2023.
On the one hand, it was requested that the Public Ministry investigate the signing of contract number 541 of 2020.
It was also requested to “monitor the correct execution of the contract and verify whether the members of the contracting company contributed resources to the political campaign of the then governor of Santander, Aguilar Hurtado, for the period 2020-2023.”
The alleged irregularities.
Once the Attorney General’s Office began the investigation, its objective was to determine the alleged disciplinary responsibility of those investigated. in relation to possible irregularities in the signing and execution of contract number 541 of 2020.
These possible irregularities are summarized as follows:
a) Determine if the contractor who signed contract number 541 of 2020, contributed resources to the political campaign of Nerthink Mauricio Aguilar Hurtado, in his campaign for the Governor of Santander, for the period 2020-2023;
b) The bilateral had to be signed as a result of a public selection process and not by direct hiring;
c) Possible cost overruns in the process according to the offer presented by the contractor
d) Deficiencies in the execution of the contractsince it appears that it was not executed with 100% of the personnel offered by the contractor.
The findings
The Attorney General’s Office found that, both the then governor of Santander, Nerthink Mauricio Aguilar Hurtado, and César Augusto García Durán, Director of Risk Management, and Sergio Orlando Ferro Dávila, supervisor of contract 541 of 2020, at the time of the events, they would have breached “their duty to verify the contract”.
According to the execution reports attached to the file, it was found that: Although the contractor detailed that the services would be provided by two (2) epidemiologists, in the execution of the contract only one (1) was provided.
Those investigated allegedly did not notice this irregularitywhich is why the Administration paid an approximate monthly value of thirteen million nine hundred and fifty-six thousand two hundred and fifty pesos ($13,956,250) for a service that was not provided, a value that extended during the execution of the contract.
On the specific point of the alleged contribution of resources that the contractor of contract number 541 of 2020, would have made to the political campaign of Nerthink Mauricio Aguilar Hurtado, to the Government of Santander, for the period 2020-2023, no relationship was found.
This is established according to an official document attached to the file, dated July 30, 2021, sent by the National Electoral Council, by which a copy of the income and expense report of the Aguilar Hurtado campaign was attached, as well as the list of donors and taxpayers.
Therefore, and in accordance with the above, The Attorney General’s Office found that there was no grounds for continuing the proceedings in this regard.
Regarding the claim according to which the contract should have been signed as a result of a public selection process and not by direct contracting, the Attorney General’s Office established that: Governor Mauricio Aguilar had declared Manifest Urgency, through Decree 206 of March 20, 2020, “to address the situation of the State of Economic, Social and Ecological Emergency derived from the COVID-19 Pandemic…”
Furthermore, it was evident that the entity signed the contract in accordance with the recommendations of Colombia Compra Eficiente, in the sense that there was a declaration of public calamity or disaster, in accordance with the relevant articles of Law 1523 of 2012 and, on the other hand, the declaration of manifest urgency, as indicated in article 42 of Law 80 of 1993.
Regarding possible cost overruns in the process, according to the offer presented by the contractor, in a technical report both the Attorney General’s Office and the Santander Comptroller’s Office agree that, since it is a service with specific characteristics and as it does not have suppliers the market, that meet the established conditions, the measurement and market study could not be quantified or qualified.
And regarding the value for each Call answered, it was clarified that it was not possible to identify whether or not cost overruns occurred for this concept, which is why it was also established “that there is no merit to continue the action in this particular.”
Finally, The Attorney General’s Office declared the termination of the disciplinary process and, consequently, ordered the termination and archiving of the disciplinary action.
For all those investigated, an appeal is available, in accordance with the terms established in articles 131, 132 and 134 of the General Disciplinary Code.
