Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office disqualifies former Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva for 10 years; he says he will appeal

( Spanish) – The Attorney General’s Office of Colombia sanctioned former Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva with dismissal and disqualification for 10 years, after determining that he violated legal principles by canceling a tender for the manufacture of passports. Leyva said he will appeal this decision, considering that it arose from a process “riddled with irregularities.”

The institution said this Tuesday in a statement that Leyva acted without legal basis and that it did not have the power to declare the tender void, even if there was only one participating company, since – it argued – the company “complied with all the requirements defined by the entity in the specifications”.

“(Leyva) committed a very serious offense by way of fraud by ignoring with his actions the principles of transparency, economy and responsibility that regulate state contracting,” he indicated.

The former chancellor said in a statement published on his

Leyva explained that he decided to cancel the tender because he considered that it was designed to favor a single company and that this would harm the State’s coffers. He added that he presented evidence in the sanctioning process opened by the Attorney General’s Office, but that it was not taken into account.

In January, the Attorney General’s Office provisionally suspended Leyva for three months for alleged irregularities in the case. Leyva then rejected the accusations, but he complied with the resolution, and in May he was replaced as chancellor by Luis Gilberto Murillo, on the instructions of President Gustavo Petro.