On Monday, April 29, 2024, a National Army helicopter crashed in the south of Bolívar, leaving nine soldiers dead. This plane accident reopened the debate about aircraft from Russia, which are under scrutiny for lack of maintenance.
Several congressmen have questioned the national government for the high accident rates in this matter, among them, the representative of the Chamber of Radical Change, Julio César Triana.
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The questions are based on the fact that during the last fourteen months at least five accidents with Russian National Army helicoptersin which 21 people have died.
So far this year, in addition to the accident on April 29, two other accidents have been reported in which soldiers have also died.
On February 5, 2024, four soldiers died in a helicopter accident that occurred in Ungía, Chocó, on the border with Panama. Days later, on February 22, four other uniformed officers died in an accident that was reported in Caramanta, Antioquia.
Congressman Julio César Triana recalled that there have been several helicopter accidents that have been reported in the last year and multiple fatalities.
“From the congress we want to express our deep concern about what is happening in Colombia, with the fall of more than five public force aircraft.. More than 20 people have died, 20 members of our public force with the nine who died in this MIwhich among other things, is a helicopter of Russian origin,” the representative told the House.
Likewise, he questioned the national government for the lack of maintenance of some aircraft, an issue that is not new and is even being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office.
The congressman urged the competent authorities to indicate where they are assigned to maintain aircraft at the service of the military forces.
“We want to ask: What are they doing with the 118 billion pesos allocated for the maintenance of these aircraft?. We presented a petition and they responded that they had appropriate money for the maintenance of these aircraft,” said the congressman.
“It is time for the national government to give this explanation to the country, headed by the president, the Minister of Defense and the competent authorities,” added Julio César Triana.
At the beginning of April 2024, the Public Ministry reported that a disciplinary investigation was opened against the former secretary general of the Ministry of National DefenseAna María Garzón Botero, for possible irregularities in the agreement signed with a Russian company for the maintenance of helicopters of the national Army.
According to what was established by the Attorney General’s Office, the facts are related to a contract that was entered into on January 28, 2022, with the National Aviation Services Company SA (NASC SA) for the “recovery and commissioning of the MI-17 helicopters. -1V (MD) EJC-3385 S/N 170M11″, worth more than seven million dollars.
According to the investigations, since the signing of the contract, several alleged irregularities have been recorded, such as the change of initial conditions taking into account the public order situation in the country where the company in charge of maintenance work is located.
On May 5, 2022, according to the Public Ministry, the parties agreed suspend the execution of the contract for two calendar months, due to the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine that generated uncertainty and difficulties in its normal development.
“Two months later, the resumption of contractual execution was agreed and subsequently, on January 27, 2023, the parties signed a supplement to the contract that modified, among other aspects, the form and conditions of payment and the execution period, to despite the fact that the situation that caused the suspension of the bilateral had not been overcome,” they added from the entity.
The Attorney General’s Office established that there is a risk regarding public resources due to the alleged transfer of 50% of the contract value as advance payment, despite the fact that maintenance has apparently not been carried out on any of the aircraft.
