In the eye of the hurricane lies Alexandra Agudelo, Secretary of Education in Medellín, who in the last few hours submitted her resignation. The official is being investigated for alleged irregularities in two Buen Comienzo and school feeding contracts.
(Read: National Development Plan reaches Congress for presentation).
In fact, the now former Secretary of Education, andShe is sheltered with the measure of house for jail while the process carried out by the judge 39 Municipal Penalty of Medellín continues.
The case also brought several criticisms against the mayor of MedellínDaniel Quintero, who has defended Agudelo and assured that no money has been lost.
“They want to damage all the good we have done for the children in Medellín. The decrease in chronic malnutrition, the increase in coverage, investment in schools, zero enrollment, computers, but especially having removed the corrupt who were bleeding Medellín dry.Quintero said.
Along with this, the Mayor showed some conversations on WhatsApp with Agudelo where he told him that he should not resign and that in the appeal they will give him justice and they will receive him as a “hero”.
(See: Health reform: pros and cons of the project).
They want to damage all the good we have done for the children in Medellín. The decrease in chronic malnutrition, the increase in coverage, investment in schools, zero enrollment, computers, but especially having removed the corrupt who were bleeding Medellín dry. pic.twitter.com/RZtw4kT5bH
– Daniel Quintero Calle (@QuinteroCalle) February 21, 2023
In response, Agudelo thanked him but said that the best thing to do was to resign. “My decision was to follow this path, but not that of my family and she is very affected and needs me,” the former official wrote.
And he added: “I never thought I would leave my position like this. It was a dream that I had at some point when I arrived and I remain convinced that I did very well, no one is going to take that from me, they have already taken too much from me.“.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the problems occurred in the hiring of the Buen Comienzo program that benefits minors between 0 and 5 years of age in Medellín.
(Keep reading: Pension funds record a new all-time high.)
The investigative body ensures that the cost overruns amount to 2,000 million pesos between the two contracts. The investigators of the case were able to establish, through telephone interceptions, that at the headquarters of the contractor Colombia Avanza, presumably, there was an order to disappear the accounting and the supports that account for the contract. And they would have sent global invoices to the Ministry of Education without the respective support of the subcontractors.
BRIEFCASE