This is how the corruption network operated in the Army that would have stolen 320 million pesos

2023-08-05 21:52:29

With the arrest of 22 soldiers and two civilians, a network of corruption within the National Army was put to an end, which allegedly certified the entry and presence of people who were not part of the military forces.

Among those involved is a lieutenant colonel, two majors, a second lieutenant, several sergeants and corporals attached to a unit located in the department of Guaviare, and a psychologist and a dentist, the Prosecutor’s Office reported this Saturday, which estimated the fraud at around 320 million of pesos.

And they added that, in addition, “they have information that warns that the defendants had filed complaints with the Military Criminal Justice for alleged desertions of non-existent soldiers, which would have led to the capture of innocent people who ended up being prosecuted for said crime.”

In other words, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation believes that the defendants falsified medical examinations of incorporation, administrative processes, allocations of war material, food, payroll payments, delivery of hygiene kits, and payments of cash bonuses for soldiers who supposedly They were in combat zones.

How did they do it? According to the investigation, those involved loaded false information into Army databases to give it an appearance of legality and even used fingerprints, without authorization, on official documents to support psychotechnical evidence of incorporation.

“The 24 people who were part of the network were captured in Caucasia, Bello and Medellín (Antioquia), Chiquinquirá (Boyacá), Tierra Alta and Montería (Córdoba), Cajicá and Tolemaida (Cundinamarca), La Plata (Huila), Villavicencio (Meta), Sandoná (Nariño), Armenia (Quindío), Cimitarra and Bucaramanga (Santander) and in Bogotá,” they explained in a press release.

The Prosecutor’s Office charged them with possible perpetrators of the crimes of aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime, embezzlement by appropriation, procedural fraud, aggravated constraint to commit a crime, abuse of public functions, ideological and material falsehood in a public document; and abuse of authority by arbitrary and unfair act.

However, none of them accepted the charges.