Next Tuesday, July 2, the hearing for the request for a precautionary measure against the former mayor of Pereira, Carlos Alberto Maya Lópezand four other people for alleged irregularities in the construction of Los Colibríes avenue.
Since last Saturday, June 22, one day after the capture of Maya, who was mayor of Pereira in the 2020-2023 period, of the former infrastructure secretary, Milton Hurtado García and the intervenor, José Alberto Rojas Prieto, the hearings for the legalization of capture and the imputation of charges have been held, presided over by a judge of guarantee control.
In addition to these three people, between last Wednesday and this Thursday, the contractor Carlos Alberto Ballesteros was captured in the municipality of Belén de Umbría, and in the municipality of Sabaneta, Antioquia, José Gabriel Vargas Carvajal, legal representative of the Prosperidad Vial Cerritos Consortium.
The 20th Public Administration Sectional Prosecutor charged Maya with the crimes of ideological falsification of a public document; destruction, suppression or concealment of a public document; embezzlement by appropriation; contract without compliance with legal requirements and procedural fraud. However, the former mayor did not plead guilty to the charges.
It is important to note that only the hearing to legalize the arrest of Vargas Carvajal has been held.
‘They lent their signatures’: Prosecutor
During the last two days of hearings, the prosecutor has supported the request for a precautionary measure and in this regard assured that the representatives of the construction consortium had provided their signatures on different works reports.
Carlos Maya, former mayor of Pereira
Photo:Pereira City Hall
The prosecutor also argued that the contractors agreed with all the decisions that led to the loss of assets of the municipality of Pereira during the construction of the project and that they had received payments for works not carried out and others above market prices. The prosecutor exhibited 17 records of works and payments in the hearings.
In the request for a precautionary measure, the representative of the investigative and prosecuting body presented evidence of communications between former Mayor Maya and an employee of the Canadian Visa Expert company because he had planned to leave the country and settle in Canada with his wife.
The works are stopped
In the construction of Los Colibríes Avenue, 52 billion pesos have supposedly been invested. However, the works have not been completed. and according to the current mayor of Pereira, Mauricio Salazar Peláez, they are a “white elephant.”
Hearing against the former mayor of Pereira, Carlos Maya
Photo:Video Capture
In the public tender, the construction period for the avenue that is seeking an alternative to traffic congestion in the Cerritos sector was 18 months, but the Prosperidad Vial Cerritos consortium did not meet the deadline. It also did not meet the 29 months proposed in the legal studies and designs.
However, when handing over the work to the current mayor, Maya stated in a press conference that the progress of the work was 92 percent.The contractors asked for a budget increase of 13 billion pesos, but Mayor Salazar did not agree and instead asked the control entities and the Attorney General’s Office investigate alleged irregularities in this project.
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