Former Comptroller General Julio Cesar Turbay Quintero spent more than $27 million on personal expenses while in office, Caracol Radio reported Monday.
Contracts signed by Julio Cesar Turbay Quintero, who was in charge of overseeing public funds, supposedly reveal that he used public funds for personal travel, communications, image consulting services and vehicles, among other luxuries, during his term in office, from 2006 until he resigned in August 2010.
The documents reveal that he spent over $4 million on national and international travel for himself and his companions. Quintero’s expenses for hotels and clubs used for meetings and conferences reached over $2 million.
On one occasion Quintero spent more than $500,000 on an eight-day stay at Hotel Tequendama, where he was attending the General Assembly of the Latin American and Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions.
Between 2007 and 2010, the comptroller spent more than $153,000 on consulting services for the management of his image and public relations, which included etiquette classes.
His printing costs were more than $550,000.
In January of 2008, Quintero bought a Mercedez Benz Sprinter for about $60,000 and then spent $100,000 on bullet-proofing the vehicle, adding six leather chairs, a fridge, an in-car theater, and a state-of-the-art communication system.
The contracts, all signed by the former comptroller, are being analyzed by Comptroller General Sandra Morelli, and the Colombian Auditor General, Ivan Dario Gomez Lee.
