Suitcases with cash, bribes and deep throats. The corruption scandal of the Risk Management Unit (Ungrd) is affecting the first circle of the president, Gustavo Petro, his key allies in Congress and the two presidents of both chambers of the Legislature, Iván Name and Andrés Calle.
The plot also damages Petro’s promises to fight corruption and govern for the poorest regions: the scandal has La Guajira as its epicenter, a department prioritized by the president’s speech.
These are the key questions of the scandal after the former deputy director of the Ungrd, Sneyder Pinilla, turned on the fan in front of the media. Olmedo López, former director of the Ungrd, also began to do so, who accompanied Petro since the presidential campaign as one of the main leaders of the Antioquia left. The two promise to smear more officials, now before the Prosecutor’s Office.
What is known about corruption in the Ungrd?
The extra costs of tank cars. In February, W Radio and El Tiempo began to reveal cost overruns of nearly 20 billion pesos in a contract for the purchase of 40 tank trucks intended to bring water to La Guajira. The media showed that the tank trucks, after months of being purchased, continued to be parked without bringing water to the poorest areas of the department, for which they were purchased.
After the revelations, the Secretary of Transparency, Andrés Idárraga, began to investigate the hiring of the unit. On February 29, Idárraga filed a criminal complaint against former director López for the irregular purchase of the tank trucks. Among his findings was the participation of a group of companies with no experience in transportation, linked to each other, that bid for the contract and coordinated to artificially raise the prices of tank trucks.
The Attorney General’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office also opened disciplinary proceedings against former director López, who resigned on February 29 after Petro offered his position to former Polo councilor Carlos Carillo, current director.
Yellow machinery contracts. Olmedo López’s management was also marked by the anomalous hiring of yellow machinery for the regions. For example, Risk Management allocated nearly $63 billion pesos to Uribia, in La Guajira, political stronghold of the conservative senator, Carlos Trujillo. The information was found by journalists Melquisedec Torres and Carolina Gómez. The amount exceeds by more than $60 billion what Riohacha, the capital of the department, received for this concept.
Since his arrival at the Ungrd, the new director Carrillo has pointed out the influence of Senator Trujillo within the entity. Trujillo is one of the key allies of the Petro government in the Conservative Party.
Bribe payments. The case has been uncovered by the statements in the media by López and Pinilla, who after being in the public eye for corruption cases have begun to tell self-incriminating details. For now, the most specific complaint is that of Pinilla, a former mayor of a small municipality in Santander who rose to the top management position at the hands of López.
According to his version, money came from Ungrd contracts to buy congressmen and promote the reforms of the Petro government. According to Pinilla, there was a payment of 4 billion pesos to Name, president of Congress, and Calle, president of the House of Representatives. Pinilla says that he personally gave Calle a suitcase with cash worth one billion.
“It is Yidispolitics 2.0,” summarized the lawyer of former director López, José Luis Moreno, in reference to the corruption scandal of the Álvaro Uribe government, when senior officials of his government offered public positions to the then representative to the Chamber, Yidis Medina. , to vote in favor of the constitutional reform bill that allowed Uribe’s re-election in 2006.
Who is accused of bribery?
Sandra Ortíz, former presidential advisor for the regions. Pinilla involves Ortíz in two events. According to her version, on September 25, 2023, the former counselor participated in a breakfast with the Minister of the Interior, Velasco, and former director López. From that breakfast came, according to Pinilla, López’s order to obtain the money for bribes to Congress.
The second fact is that Ortíz was, according to Pinilla, the link to deliver 3 billion pesos to Senator Name. Pinilla says that he gave him the money in suitcases with cash. He also says that he accompanied her to the elevator of the building where Ortíz was going to make the delivery. The counselor denied the accusations.
Iván Name, president of Congress. Pinilla says that, after the famous breakfast on September 25, Olmedo López clearly announced the order to be carried out. “Sneyder needs 3 billion pesos to give to the president of the Senate,” Pinilla said in the Coronell Report. In the collaboration matrix of the Prosecutor’s Office delivered by his defense, Name’s name appears as one of those involved. Name also denied the allegations.
Andrés Calle, president of the House of Representatives. Pinilla says that, in October 2023, he traveled to Montería to deliver one billion pesos to Calle. “Building K-62, in Montería. I will never forget him,” said Pinilla. Calle also denied the allegations.
Luis Fernando Velasco, Minister of the Interior. Pinilla involves Velasco at the breakfast on September 25, where, according to his version, Olmedo arrived with the order to get the money to pay the bribes. However, the former deputy director acknowledges that he did not have direct access to the high government officials that he points out. Velasco denied the accusations and challenged Pinilla and López to present the evidence.
Carlos Ramón González, Director of Intelligence. It has not been mentioned directly by either Pinilla or López’s lawyer, who has made statements in the media. However, according to Semana magazine, among the senior officials that López is going to point out to seek an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office is González. The powerful green politician, one of the president’s strong men, managed as director of Dapre the “palace computer,” which records bureaucratic quotas to vote votes in Congress.
Carlos Trujillo, senator. It has not been mentioned directly by either Pinilla or López’s lawyer, who has made statements in the media. However, Trujillo is pointed out by the current director of the Ungrd, Carillo, as having great influence within the entity. His name has also been raised in the scandal due to his old relationship with former director López, who was part of his municipal cabinet when he was mayor of Itagüí, Antioquia (2012 – 2015).
Luis Carlos Barreto, deputy director of the Ungrd. His name appears in the collaboration matrix of the Prosecutor’s Office delivered by Pinilla’s defense to achieve an agreement. Pinilla has not provided details of his participation. Next week, Barreto leaves office.
Víctor Andrés Mesa, former deputy director of the Ungrd. His name appears in the collaboration matrix of the Prosecutor’s Office delivered by Pinilla’s defense to achieve an agreement. He was involved in the contract to purchase the 40 tank cars for La Guajira.
What questions need to be answered?
What are the tests? For now, Pinilla and López have accepted that they were involved in a corruption plot, of which they had direct knowledge. But they have not provided evidence.
For tomorrow, May 7, the Prosecutor’s Office summoned former director López to testify. His lawyer, in an interview with La W, said that there is no “direct” evidence, but there is “indictive” evidence, such as chats and meeting records. He also announced that they formally filed the request for the principle of opportunity to the Prosecutor’s Office. The request has as an annex the collaboration matrix in which he mentions the senior officials involved.
For his part, Pinilla is scheduled for an interrogation on May 8, at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office. His lawyer, the former anti-corruption prosecutor, Luis Gustavo Moreno – convicted of corruption in the “toga cartel” scandal – assured Semana that his client will not submit to an interrogation until there are “rules of game” under the principle of opportunity.
Who gave the order? Pinilla and López have made it clear that, despite having participated and executed orders, they do not consider themselves primarily responsible for the corruption network. “He got bored of being pointed out as the person most responsible,” said López’s lawyer on Caracol Radio.
With the famous breakfast on September 25, 2023, Pinilla has suggested that it could be the Minister of the Interior, Velasco, who was responsible for promoting the bribes, but the same former official acknowledges that he did not have direct access to the meeting. “Olmedo López is beginning to receive orders from a higher level to help them organize some congressional issues,” Pinilla said about the breakfast.
How was the bribe money used? If Pinilla’s version is corroborated, the Ungrd’s money moved between September and October 2023. That is, in the final stretch of the regional elections, where Name and Calle, the two accused of receiving bribes, had big bets to keep their structures. At the time, the government’s first health reform was also in its final stretch, waiting to be approved in the second debate of the House.
According to Pinilla, the money was to close political agreements in the process of government reforms. That remains to be proven.
Who are the other congressmen involved? Pinilla has spoken of at least 15 congressmen involved in the corruption network. But, apart from Name and Calle, they have not mentioned others. The name of Trujillo, for example, they have avoided mentioning. The two argue that they are going to provide more information to the Prosecutor’s Office with the aim of seeking an agreement for the principle of opportunity.
Is the scandal related to the Nicolás Petro case? Suspicion was planted by the ex-partner of the president’s son, Day Vásquez, who hinted at the beginning of 2024 about irregularities in the hiring of the Ungrd. Vásquez is, along with Petro Jr., charged with money laundering in a case related to alleged irregularities in the financing of Petro’s presidential campaign.
 in the Ungrd corruption case){kind=link}