Assets of former Colombian minister and contractors involved in corruption seized

Bogotá.- The Colombian Prosecutor's Office seized 23 properties valued at 65.9 billion pesos (about 17.3 million dollars) belonging to four contractors and former minister Karen Abudinen, implicated in the fraud against the State in a contract to provide internet connection to more than 7,000 rural schools. The affected properties are located in the departments of Cundinamarca, Atlántico, Córdoba, Sucre, Risaralda and Nariño, the Prosecutor's Office detailed in a statement.

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The seized assets are part of the estate of Emilio Tapia, Juan José Laverde, Ottomar Lascarro, Luis Fernando Duque and some of their relatives. The properties are part of the "assets of some of those involved in the irregular events detected in the contract signed between the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (MinTIC) and the Temporary Union 'Centros Poblados', to provide internet to rural schools in several departments of the country", the prosecuting entity indicated. The investigation determined that the properties were allegedly acquired with "resources from the illicit actions discovered in the contracting process and the advance received irregularly by the 'Centros Poblados' Temporary Union." In September 2021, Minister Abudinen resigned from her position after the scandal. She was at the head of that ministry from May 2020 to September 2021, during the government of Iván Duque (2018-2022).

To start executing the contract, whose total amount exceeds one billion pesos (about 264 million dollars), the Government granted Centros Poblados an advance of 70,000 million pesos (about 18.4 million dollars).

However, local media such as the W Radio station revealed that the contractor, who lacked experience and capacity to fulfill the agreement, presented three false guarantee policies in the bidding process and, after receiving the advance payment, had barely made progress in the execution of the contract. Furthermore, in accordance with fiscal responsibility decisions issued by the Comptroller's Office, a precautionary measure was also applied to a property of the former Minister of Information Technology and Communications, Karen Abudinen. The measures imposed by a prosecutor from the Specialized Directorate for the Extinction of the Right of Domain seek to protect and recover public funds compromised in the execution of the project, which aimed to install 7,277 digital centers in 16 departments of the country. The investigation revealed that legitimate assets were combined with resources of illicit origin, in addition to the use of the companies that made up the 'Centros Poblados' Temporary Union as an instrument for the commission of irregularities.