Anti-corruption candidate Rodolfo Hernandez will have to appear in court after Colombia’s elections over his own alleged corruption.
The corruption trial is the consequence of the liberal demagogue’s alleged corruption as mayor of Bucaramanga, the capital of his native Santander province.
The trial is the consequence of corruption charges filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office in May last year, two years after the so-called “Vitalogic” scandal broke.
The Inspector General’s Office charged the presidential hopeful in August 2019 already when Hernandez was still mayor.
Hernandez claimed that the criminal charges that were filed in May last year are due to pressure by his political adversaries in Santander.
The scandal
According to the criminals charges, Hernandez was involved in a waste management that also implicates Hernandez’s son Luis Carlos.
According to the charges revealed by the Inspector General’s Office, the presidential candidate initially conspired with the director of public utilities company EMAB and contractor Jorge Alarcon in 2016 to rig the bidding for a consultancy contract over what to do with Bucaramanga’s waste management.
The private contractor allegedly met with the Hernandez and Barrera in the former mayor’s home to fix the contract so that Alarcon ended up being awarded the $94 thousand (355 million) contract, which ultimately happened.
The invitation to Alarcon’s alleged competitors were fake, according to the prosecution.
After hiring Alarcon, EMAB opened a bidding process to fix Bucaramanga’s growing waste problem by hiring a company that would convert waste into energy.
Hernandez wanted to grant this contract to a company Vitalogic, which had promised his son $2 million consultancy if Bucaramanga city hall would grant them the 30-year contract, according to documents in the hands of the authorities.
WhatsApp messages provided to the Inspector’s Office additionally indicate that Hernandez’s son allegedly fixed a meeting between the presidential candidate and Vitalogic executive Florin Volcinschi.
“The law doesn’t matter”
Hernandez and Vitalogic got into trouble after Bucaramanga’s judicial chief Cesar Augusto Fontecha found that the contractor lacked the legal requirements.
Hernandez pressured Fontecha to approve the contract, according to audio of a phone conversation released by television network Caracol in 2019.
In the phone conversation, Fontecha explained Hernandez that he couldn’t approve the contract because Vitalogic failed to provide the compulsory evidence that the company was insured.
“The norms can say whatever. The law doesn’t matter,” responded the presidential candidate.
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter, I can’t commit fraud,” Bucaramanga’s legal chief told Hernandez and the deal with Vitalogic fell through.
200 charges?
Following his victory on Sunday, Hernandez claimed that he was innocent of the corruption charge, adding that he was being investigated “not in one but 200” criminal and disciplinary cases.
These legal issues are the result of political rivals from Santander, according to the demagogue.