Minute30.com .- The corruption scandal that left thousands of children in rural areas of Colombia without internet has today had unprecedented judicial progress. The Attorney General’s Office imposed precautionary measures for the purpose of extinguishing the right of ownership over a total of 23 assets linked to those involved in the irregularities of the contract between the MinTIC and the Temporary Union ‘Centros Poblados’.
The affected properties have a commercial value that exceeds 65.9 billion pesos. This operation seeks to recover part of the millionaire advance that was diverted and that was originally intended to install 7,277 digital centers in the most remote schools in the country.
The money trail of “Centros Poblados”: From Emilio Tapia to former officials
According to the Prosecutor’s Office investigation, the affected assets would belong to the masterminds behind the illicit operation: Emilio José Tapia Aldana, Juan José Laverde Martínez, Ottomar Lascarro Torres and Luis Fernando Duque Torres, as well as some of their close relatives.
The authorities detected that these assets, located in Cundinamarca, Atlántico, Córdoba, Sucre, Risaralda and Nariño, would have been acquired with the resources from the advance paid irregularly. The property list includes:
Urban and rural properties.
Commercial establishments.
Parking lots.
Corporate assets.
Precautionary measure against property of former minister Karen Abudinen
One of the most notable news of this operation is the application of a precautionary measure on a property of the former ICT Minister, Karen Cecilia Abudinen Abuchaibe.
This decision, which responds to the fiscal responsibility processes issued by the Comptroller General of the Republic, seeks to protect the assets that can be used to compensate for the patrimonial damage caused to the State. The Prosecutor’s Office clarified that these measures are of a legal nature and are based on the impossibility of locating, until now, all of the cash resources that were diverted.
“Façade” companies
The Specialized Directorate for Extinction of Domain Rights revealed a complex network of financial engineering. According to the accusing body, those involved used the companies that made up the Temporary Union ‘Centros Poblados’ as instruments to commit irregularities, mixing assets of legal origin with the illicit resources of the contract.
This combination of capital allowed those involved to hide the trail of public money for months, until the material evidence collected made it possible to establish the cause of equivalence to proceed with the occupation of the assets.
This process not only represents a technical-legal advance, but also a response to the national cry for justice in one of the most painful corruption cases in recent years. The original project intended to connect 16 departments of the country, a promise of education and progress that was truncated by the ambition of a few.