A prosecutor of the Special Office against Corruption charged mayor of Cúcuta (Norte de Santander), four (4) former employees and a contractor with execution of contract without compliance with legal requirements, ideological representation in a public document, procedural fraud and misappropriation in favor of third parties.
People involved are: former mayor Maria Eugenia Riascos; former secretary of education, Jaime Montaguth Vega; former deputy secretary of education Jorge Iván González Avendaño; contract supervisor, Lesmes Ernesto García Cáceres; auditor, Claudia Liliana Hernández Eslava; and contractor Danubiez Zapata Sánchez. They did not plead guilty to the charges.
The alleged acts of corruption by which the six individuals are tried were revealed by an audit process carried out by the Ministry of Education which found that 14,836 students who had been reported in different schools of the country did not exist.
11,374 of the total number were from Cúcuta.
*(fictitious students)