Due to several denounces filed by citizens and disclosures made by the media, on April 24 of this year, the Office of the Attorney General began inquiries about alleged irregularities in contracting processes carried out by the Governor´s Office of San Andrés.

For more than 45 days, investigators of the Technical Investigative  Corps  (Cuerpo  Técnico  de  Investigación CTI in Spanish ) and the judicial police of the Unit of Delegate Prosecutors before the Supreme Court of Justice carried out several activities and verifications on the process of awarding and execution of a contract about the design, layout, and printing of advertising material with messages of Covid-19 mitigation. As part of the legal actions that have been established, the governor of the Department, Everth Julio Hawkins, was heard in an inquiry carried out at the end of the month of May.

In a visit made to San Andrés on June 27 by the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, and the Delegate Director on Public Safety, Carmen Torres Malaver; with the support of the branch Office director, Tatiana Angulo Meléndez, detailed information was known about the facts investigated by a delegate prosecutor before the Supreme Court and their impact on the community, mainly, the affectation of the health, recreation and education sectors. Therefore, three more cases were prioritized.

According to verifications made on the contract, it was established that the governor, without just cause, used a declaration of urgency manifest to evade the bidder selection process and to use the direct awarding.

Moreover, the person in charge of the case established that the company Noel Fotos SAS, after signing the contract for 500 million pesos, on March 18, 2020, used billing statements with values that were ​​higher than the average values in the market and with larger quantities of materials. The value was $ 86’800,000. This amount was paid by the Department.

For the official, this action besides violating the essential principles in public procurement such as competition, transparency, economy, and responsibility, also caused a patrimonial detriment. In this sense, a Delegate prosecutor before the Supreme Court of Justice summoned the governor of San Andrés, Everth Julio Hawkins Sjogreen to face alleged charges of:

. Execution of Contract without compliance with the legal requirements.

. Embezzlement

Likewise, a home confinement measure will be requested.

The  Office  of  the  Attorney  General  makes  this  information  public  for  reasons  of  general interest.