Aníbal Gaviria.
Photo from 2015. (Credit: ELIZABETH RUIZ / AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) -
The Attorney General's Office of Colombia imposed a house arrest measure on Wednesday against the governor of Antioquia, Aníbal Gaviria Correa.
The official has been accused before the Supreme Court of Justice for alleged irregularities in the award of a contract of US $ 11.6 million for the maintenance and paving of a section of the Troncal la Paz between the Crusade-Caucasia, signed when Gaviria was governor of the department between 2004 and 2007.
The statement from the Prosecutor's Office indicates that “the investigation found that the tender set an advance payment of 25% of the basic value of the contract;
however, at the signing of the contract, on December 22, it was increased to 29% ", and that" such variation would not have technical justification and would correspond to a capricious modification ".
CNN contacted the governor's communications office to find out its response to the measure issued, but they indicate that at the moment there will be no pronouncement.
It is not the first time that the Prosecutor's Office has ordered the arrest of Gaviria in this case.
He had already requested it in June 2020, but his defense filed a writ of
habeas corpus
because, according to the lawyers, his client was detained for 120 days without having his legal situation resolved.
The Superior Court of Medellín agreed with them and Gaviria was released in October 2020 and returned to work.
On June 8, 2020, in a post on Twitter, Gaviria said that he had a “clear conscience,” arguing that the Troncal de la Paz, including the La Libertad bridge, “is the most important work in the recent history of Bajo Cauca ».
Gaviria assured that "it was executed within the expected deadlines and budgets" and "has no technical qualms."
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Fernando Ramos contributed to this report
Antioquia