The Attorney General’s Office imposed a sanction of suspension and special disqualification for a period of nine months on Christiam Ernesto Páez Pinzón, former protection officer of the National Protection Unit (UNP), after confirming his participation in the improper use of a vehicle assigned to a protégé.
The investigation determined that Páez Pinzón facilitated the delivery of a UNP van to an individual that he did not belong to either the protection scheme or the entity, omitting his duty to report this irregularity in a timely manner. The vehicle, intended for the safety of a protected person, was intercepted by the National Police at a checkpoint in Caloto, Cauca, with 150 kilos of cocaine inside.
You may be interested: Colombia has been nominated 11 times in the World Travel Awards 2024
The control entity indicated that Páez Pinzón failed to comply with the provisions of the User ManualManagement and Recommendations of Prevention and Protection Measures of the UNP, which restricts the driving of these vehicles only to assigned officials and establishes the obligation to report any developments. The delivery of the vehicle to an individual, at the request of the beneficiary, was considered by the Attorney General’s Office as an irregular action that should have raised suspicions.
Páez Pinzón’s conduct was classified as a serious offense committed by way of fraud. However, the decision in the first instance can be appealed by the procedural subjects.
“The delivery of a UNP vehicle to an individual, at the request of the beneficiary, does not constitute a usual activity in the performance of the functions of a protection man. This, in fact, should have generated suspicion in the subject, since the use and handling of said truck were reserved exclusively for protection men and escorts authorized by the UNP,” the Entity stated in its decision.
You can read: Discussion of the labor reform advances with 80% of its articles approved