The Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Karen Abudinen, announced on Tuesday that she began the process of liquidating the millionaire contract with the Unión Temporal Centros Poblados, which presented irregularities.
“The settlement of the contract to UT Centros Poblados has already begun. #We continue Working in the process with the contractor UT ETB Net and thus connect the #ColegiosConInternetGratis in rural areas of the country. That is our main objective! ”, The minister wrote on her Twitter account.
Abudinen published the settlement act of the contribution contract No. 1043 of 2020 to Luis Fernando Duque, legal representative of the Unión Temporal Centros Poblados, which was filed on September 6. From that date, those involved will have three business days to return the signed document and start the process.
The settlement begins after the expiration resolution of the contract was finalized on August 17, 2021, that started the Office of Administrative Actions of the MinTIC after learning that a bank policy presented in the contest, would be false. Although there would also be other documents with doubts of the originality, according to the W Radio station.
According to the ICT Ministry, the expiration of the contract was declared on July 19, almost a month after Banco Itaú informed that the policy presented in its name had not been issued by that entity and would be false.
Since last August 13, the contractors that make up the Temporary Union were disqualified for 5 years to contract with the State, and the contracts in force with any state entity, at the national or regional level, automatically ceased.
From that moment, according to the statements of Minister Abudinen, Poblado Centers were ordered to pay the pecuniary clause of the contract that amounts to just over 39,015 million pesos. In addition, The disbursement of the resources to which the contractor agreed as an advance was ordered, 70,243 million, which are those that allegedly disappeared and must be returned in full.
After the expiration of the contract, the construction of more than 7,200 digital centers for internet connectivity for rural schools and families will be in the hands of the company ETB NET. This company, in association with Skynet, with extensive experience in the sector, will assume the commitment to continue with region B of the contract, after being second after Poblado Centers in the initial tender that was expired.
Abudinen’s pronouncement comes a day after the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation opened a disciplinary investigation against the minister. This inquiry, according to the control entity, will have the objective of determining the responsibility of the official in the irregularities of the pre-contractual stage of the tender.
The Attorney General’s Office ordered the testing and inspection of the file advanced by the entity “related to the state contribution contract No. 1043 of 2020 signed between the Single Fund for Information and Communication Technologies and the Temporary Union of Poblado Centers Colombia 2020, to transfer the evidence that is considered pertinent, conducive and necessary for the clarification of the facts under investigation, in compliance with the principle of procedural economy”.
In this sense, the expiration of the contract continues its course despite the fact that the representatives of Poblado Centers have announced legal actions to stop the decision. Likewise, Abudinen assures that he will remain in office and at the head of the process, despite questions about his political responsibility in the failure of the contract and the risk of public resources delivered to the contractor.
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