The Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation against the Police for the purchase of a luxury plane. Courtesy.

On Saturday March 4, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation opened a preliminary investigation against agents of the National Police, to determine the alleged facts irregularities which would have been presented to purchase of an airplane of $12 million.

The Disciplinary Investigation Chamber of the entity in charge of the investigation will investigate the facts to determine whether there were any irregularities in the acquisition with which damage to the treasury or state property or violation of the contractual principles could be configured or materialized.

Thus, the Crown maintained that it was necessary to remove the doubt on who or whom These could be officials implicated in the conduct under investigation. For this reason, the Office of the Attorney General requests that the necessary tests be carried out to obtain identify and individualize those responsible.

The plane was acquired for 12 million dollars in the government of Iván Duque.  Courtesy.
The plane was acquired for 12 million dollars in the government of Iván Duque. Courtesy.

It should be remembered that the the comptroller function General of the Republic had opposed this acquisition. In the afternoon of Sunday, February 19, not only was the audit carried out by the entity known, in which irregularities were detected in the purchase of an aircraft for the National Police. Images of the ostentatious plane acquired in the government of former President Iván Duque have also been revealed.

The Legacy 600 was purchased under the Ministry of Defense approval —directed by Diego Molano Aponte—; The possibility of buying two other planes on the basis of an equipment improvement plan has even been mentioned.

This observation alone would have triggered the alarm among the delegates of the control entity, after the acquisition of one of the three aircraft approved by the Government Dukein the National Development Plan 2021.

They did not forget, during the audit, that with the resources used for the purchase of Legacy 600, a much more modern aircraft could have been purchased. However, the specifications of the planes the company claimed to need Police –apparently– have been changed.

The plane was acquired for 12 million dollars in the government of Iván Duque.  Courtesy.
The plane was acquired for 12 million dollars in the government of Iván Duque. Courtesy.

And it is that, despite the fact that in 2010 the Colombian Air Force was designated as the State Aeronautical Authority, years later, in 2016, the police began to design a equipment improvement planapproved by the Department of Defenseafter a review, which considered the purchase of 3 aircraft.

The buying process, according to police sources in an interview for the newspaper The weather, took place in the company of the Controller. In the technical tables, it was decided assign contractual liability to CIAC, an entity that has made similar purchases in the past.

The decision was made in a steering committee, in which 10 police generals agreed to hand over responsibility for the purchase to the Company; since the Air Force Recruitment Agency (Acofa) could not intervene on behalf of the police, so this was not an option.

“The CIAC has a lot of experience in contracting processes and they take responsibility for procurement. At all times of the process, the law of contracts has been respected, ”insisted the source of the aforementioned media.

Before deciding on the Legacy 600there would have been many technical visits in which the needs of the Institution and the capabilities of this aircraft and others were weighed, more by adjusting those of the Legacy 600, the price of which would not only be justified in the Year of manufacture.

On the market, the Legacy can be sold for up to 14 million dollars, but that of Colombia, intended for the national police, was purchased for just over 12 million.

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