He is accused of being involved in the loss of resources of an entity in charge of dealing with natural disasters. President Gustavo Petro had asked for his resignation, but “believes in his innocence.”
The Minister of Finance of Colombia, Ricardo Bonilla, resigned this Wednesday after the president, Gustavo Petroasked for his position for a complaint of corruption linked to the loss of resources of an entity in charge of dealing with natural disasters. “I know that the accusation against Bonilla is unfair,” the Colombian president had said.
“I consider that The time has come to take on my defense as a citizen with my legal team.devoid of my status as a public official, to concentrate on the process and avoid any damage to the future of the Government in its public agenda,” Bonilla stated in a letter addressed to Petro.
Bonilla was accused of being linked to a diversion of millionaire resources from the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD). The former Minister of the Interior, Luis Fernando Velasco, other government officials and congressmen were also accused.
Previously, President Petro had asked him to resign. In his account on the social network
“I hope for his resignation because now he must dedicate himself to his defense without stain of using power in his defense,” said the president, who in the past apologized for the scandal.
The complaint against Bonilla
The first allegations of corruption occurred after the departure of the former director of the UNGRD, Olmedo López, and the former deputy director Sneyder Pinilla. They were accused of irregularly purchasing tanker trucks for 46.8 billion pesos (about US$10.5 million) to supply drinking water to populations in the department of La Guajira, in northern Colombia.
The scandal escalated at the end of November, when a former Bonilla advisor declared before the Prosecutor’s Office that she was repeatedly pressured by the former minister to authorize a million-dollar disbursement to the UNGRD.
The investigation against the officials is in charge of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office of Colombia, while the country’s Supreme Court is dealing with the congressmen involved.
Source: Ambito
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