• It will be led by the Special Director against Corruption and is expected to have the support of officers of the Comptroller’s Office and Procuraduria
  • The Attorney General also announced in Cartagena important advances in the clarification of crimes of great impact in the Colombian Caribbean.

During his visit to Cartagena (Bolívar), the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, announced that next week, he will launch a group that will lead investigations into alleged acts of corruption in public contracting in the pre-electoral period throughout the country and that they will begin in the Caribbean Coast region.

The team will be led by the Special Director against Corruption who accompanied by prosecutors will closely monitor public procurement in different departments, an association of cases, and interventions.

“We cannot allow cities to collapse, that public investment is not carried out and We cannot allow that when it is carried out, it is stolen; we are petrified waiting to see in a pre-electoral period how public resources disappear,” said the Attorney General.

The Attorney General Barbosa stated that he and citizens have witnessed the level of inattention about many cities of the country and there are no concrete actions against public management, that is way, there is a proposal to make an intervention in which the citizens can denounce.

“It is unfortunate the condition of some cities about the public space, the level of inattention of the historical heritage that we have seen in different cities of the coast. The anti-corruption group will directly verify what is happening even with complaints filed by citizens. We encourage citizens to file their complaints”, he pointed out.

Likewise, he announced that he expects to have the accompaniment and joint work with the Comptroller’s Office and Procuraduria. It is a proposal that he makes to the heads of those control entities:

“We are in a pre-electoral period, one of the tasks we have, which I have discussed with the Comptroller General and Procurador General, is to get back anti-corruption issues in times of the pre-electoral period. We did that when Covid and I think it is time to get back to that and we are going to intervene”.

Advances in the clarification of crimes on the Caribbean Coast

On the other hand, as part of his institutional policy “En la calle y en los territories” the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, held a meeting with the Sectional Director in Bolívar, Ibeth Cecilia Hernández Sampayo, in La Guajira Dayro Fernando Herrera Iglesias, and Magdalena Medio, Ricardo Iván Romero Moreno, to do a follow up on the investigative strategies to combat the most common crimes in the Caribbean region, such as homicide, sexual and domestic violence, and corruption, among others.

Concerning the criminal phenomenon, the head of the Attorney General´s Office stated that the legal actions have made it possible to advance by 37% in the clarification of homicide cases in the Caribbean region. For its part, in Bolívar, 146 homicides have been clarified, with an advance of 52.33% compared to last year.

Likewise, within the framework of the prioritization strategy regarding sexual crimes in the Caribbean region, a clarification rate of 10.6 additional percentage points has been achieved in comparison to the previous year. Meanwhile, concerning domestic violence, a clarification of 37% was achieved. In Bolívar, progress was made in the clarification of 481 cases.

The Attorney General also highlighted the arrest of 39 people belonging to criminal groups: ‘Los Santiago’, ‘Héroes del Caribe’ and ‘Pino Duarte’, organizations that were at the service of the Clan del Golfo. The investigation proves that these criminal groups were involved in homicides, extortion, and drug trafficking in Cartagena.

When we speak, results follow.