2024-04-26 21:49:27
Due to irregularities in the passport tender, the Attorney General’s Office announced that it extended the suspension of Minister Álvaro Leyva for three more months.
The Attorney General’s Office extends the provisional suspension of Álvaro Leyva DuránMinister of Foreign Affairs, for three more months, due to alleged irregularities in the passport bidding process.
The chancellor was suspended on January 24 for a similar period of time, after being accused of committing very serious disciplinary offenses. The first, for declaring a tender void without adequate grounds, and the second, for declaring a manifest urgency without sufficient justification.
“Apparently suspended, incurring two disciplinary offenses, provisionally classified as very serious committed by way of fraud, the first by declaring tender 001 of 2023 void without having the factual, legal and technical foundations, which could have transgressed the principles that govern state contracting; the second, for declaring manifest urgency without supposedly existing grounds to adopt that determination,” said the Attorney General’s Office.
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The Attorney General’s Office considers that the conditions that led to the initial suspension still persist, which could lead to the repetition of the same irregularities if the official returns to his position during the current bidding process.
Until now, no evidence has been presented to refute the initial accusationswhich leads to confirming the extension of the suspension until July 24, 2024.
Furthermore, it is argued that Leyva Durán’s return to office could negatively interfere in the ongoing process, since he has authority over the public servants cited as witnesses in the investigation.
“If Leyva Durán is reinstated, the possibility of him interfering in a harmful manner in the process that is currently taking place would be activated, given the authority that he has over the public servants who were summoned as witnesses,” the Public Ministry clarified.
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