With chats, photos and testimonials, the Prosecutor’s Office He explained this week why he believes that Miguel Quinterobrother of former mayor of Medellín Daniel Quinterohas to go to jail for being the alleged head of a corruption network to divert public resources from the Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area (amva).
This Monday, September 21, the hearing will be resumed to define whether a judge sends him to prison, in one of the corruption networks that surround Daniel Quintero and his brother for alleged mismanagement of the Medellín contract. The group of former officials and contractors charged amounts to more than 50, in cases such as Aguas Vivas, Metroparques, Afinia, Amva, among others.
A source familiar with these processes told EL TIEMPO that “There are not so many prosecutors for the magnitude of the corruption that would be behind the Amvawhich in the end is only a portion of all the money at stake.”
In charge of putting together the puzzle of the alleged criminal enterprise that was launched in different agencies are several prosecutors specialized in anti-corruption issues. In what concerns the Metropolitan Area it is in the lead Magda Sofía Ramírez, prosecutor who uncovered details of how the alliance would have been cooked up so that that entity would give the Itagüí Volunteer Fire Department six contracts for 17,657 million pesos, subscribed between 2019 and 2023.
Indictment against Miguel Quintero, brother of former mayor Daniel Quintero. Photo:Private file
Everything indicates that Miguel Quintero, who was called ‘Mr. M.’ or the ‘boss’, would have allied himself with his friends from the Tricentenario neighborhood where he grew up and with former co-workers. The first objective was to gain ground in the Amva, and to do so he would have helped his allies Álvaro Villada enter the administrative subdirectorate and Laura María Mejía to the Logistics Unit. Another who supposedly came in influenced by Quintero is Juan David Palaciowho remained with the general direction of the Metropolitan Area.
On the side of the Itagüí firefighters, that is, those who received the six contracts for biosecurity and management of covid-19, there would be the former commander Misael Cadavid and the former legal representative Elkin de Jesús González. Together they would have agreed on a bribe of 15 percent of the value of the contract. The intention of Miguel Quintero and Álvaro Villada would have been to earn 20 percent, but Cadavid would have said that 10 would be better. Finally, 15% was reached, represented today in a embezzlement of 2,481 million pesos: 1,654 million would have gone to Daniel Quintero’s brother and the other 827 million apparently went to his links.
Alvaro Villada Photo:Social networks
“They started directly, without full legal requirements, violating the principles of planning, transparency, economy, objective selectionby improperly directing these six contracts to the Itagüí Fire Department, money that was not properly managed, since there are cost overruns in billing by said entity, through invoices or collection accounts from people who were paid a lower value,” the Prosecutor’s Office has said in this regard.
The four witnesses
Since last year, the Prosecutor’s Office has been weaving the puzzle with its investigations and with the testimonies of four people who decided to turn on the ‘fan’ to receive judicial benefits. Those who negotiated are Laura Mejía, Misael Cadavid, Elkin de Jesús González and María Yaneth Rúa.
Misael Cadavid Photo:Courtesy
The first of them was key for the Prosecutor’s Office when locating how these people met. He reported that, through Edison López or ‘Chano’, in 2020 Quintero would have suggested hiring Ana María Roldán in the Environmental Subdirectorate. “After Roldán left, they replaced her with Diana María Montoya, ex-partner of Miguel Quinteror in childhood and that he recommended her, so to speak, for this position through Álvaro Villada,” said the witness Mejía.
However, who would be a cornerstone against Quintero is Misael Cadavid, known in Itagüí for his work as a firefighter. This man was captured last year and spent time in El Pedregal prison, from which he was released in the middle of negotiations with the Prosecutor’s Office. Both he and Mejía would have learned that by mid-2021, Miguel Quintero no longer wanted to have Álvaro Villada receiving bribes from the contracts, and that Sebastián Ortega would have replaced that positionanother of those prosecuted.
Apart from the testimonies of Misael Cadavid. Photo:THE TIME.
“I delivered money to Ortega at the Itagüí Fire Department and at a hotel“These monies were always delivered in cash,” Cadavid said during an interrogation.
What is striking in the case of the former fire chief is that once arrested, he supposedly Former senator Carlos Trujillo sent him a reason through Itagüí’s representative, Jhon Fredy Ortiz. The intention behind that message is not known for now, but it coincides with the appointment that Cadavid’s daughter later had with the mayor of the municipality, Diego Torresand his Government Secretary, Mauricio Sanchez. Apparently, both offered the services of their lawyers to help the firefighter.
Another testimony that may be key is that of María Yaneth Rúa. She was the contract supervisor in the Metropolitan Area, and that is why she would know the managers who gave the endorsement to distribute the irregular contracting. While Elkin de Jesús González apparently stayed with the fire department business while Cadavid went out to aspire politically.
Carlos Andrés Trujillo, former senator of the Conservative party. Photo:Facebook Carlos Andrés Trujillo
In addition to Miguel Quintero, Álvaro Villada, Misael Cadavid, María Yaneth Rúa and Elkin de Jesús González, the lawyer Vanesa Álvarez, contractor in charge of studying the six contracts that went to the Itagüí firefighters. Likewise, Sebastián Ortega, who began to replace Villada in collecting bribes directed to Quintero.
The first conviction for the chapter of alleged corruption was handed down against Juan Alberto Cardonaformer treasurer of the firefighters who accepted having inflated amounts for illicit benefits.
Carlos López – @CarlosL49 – carben@eltiempo.com
