Gilberto Toro, director of the National Federation of Municipalities (Federación Nacional de Municipios ) was accused by the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia for aggravated theft and abuse of civil service. The action of the prosecuting agency is based on events occurred between 2002 and 2012, when Fedemunicipios kept 10 percent of the collection of nearly 44 billion pesos as a result of traffic fines and penalties payments imposed by the transit department.
The Prosecutor in the case said that the Integrated System of Traffic Fines and Penalties (in Spanish: Simut) was empowered to collect money for traffic fines and penalties, but Federation repealed the right to collect also all the details related to traffic tickets, which means the irregular collection of more than 4.4 billion pesos.
The Prosecutor said that, as a statutory rule, the only body with the right to collect money is the District Tax Office (Secretaria de Hacienda Distrital) and this is a non-delegable duty. The proceedings are being conducted since June of last year, when the preliminary hearing was made. The preparatory hearing was set for next month.