The Prosecutor’s Office will charge the interim former governor of San Andrés Islands for alleged irregularities in the contracting of Christmas lighting after hurricane Iota made landfall on the island

The Attorney General’s Office filed a request for an accusation hearing against the interim former governor of San Andrés, Alen Leonardo Jay Stephens, as allegedly responsible for the crime of execution of the contract without complying with legal requirements.

A delegate prosecutor to the Supreme Court of Justice established that the former governor signed an inter-administrative contract on December 3, 2020, worth COP 1,550 million, which the objective of renting, transporting, installing, and dismantling Christmas lighting for the island.

The contract indicated that it sought to reactivate the economy and tourism in the department, after the devastation caused by hurricane Iota. However, the evidence shows that essential contracting requirements and principles such as transparency, responsibility, and economy were violated.

The hearing will be held on the date scheduled by the Superior Court of Bogotá.

Stephens served as interim governor between October 2020 and April 2021, after the suspension of the incumbent governor, Everth Julio Hawkins Sjogreen.

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

When we speak, results follow.

The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out the criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.