Minutes after the Ministry of Mines received the notification from the Attorney General’s Office about the provisional suspension of Brayan Giraldo Ruiz, director of the Non-Conventional Energy and Efficient Energy Management Fund (Fenoge), Edwin Palma, head of that department, spoke out on the matter.
The decision of the Public Ministry came amid several alerts, revealed by EL TIEMPO, about a controversial solar panel contract worth more than 164 billion pesos.
‘For stopping the program’
The deal is part of the presidential program package ‘Colombia Solar’, which is led by Palma’s department and to which he referred in his statement regarding Giraldo’s suspension.
“They did everything to stop the #ColombiaSolar program. These funds were intended for solar roofs for poor people in Magdalena, Arauca, Santander, and Sucre. Just as the incoming government’s transition team had requested,” Minister Palma said on his X account this Monday, August 3.
He was emphatic that they will act in accordance with the laws and comply with the authorities’ decisions: “Without prejudice to the rights of the disciplined person and the results of the consultation process.”
In addition to the three-month suspension of Giraldo Ruiz, the First Deputy Attorney for State Contracting also ordered the opening of a disciplinary investigation against the official and ordered the carrying out of tests.
Regarding the contract that motivated his removal, EL TIEMPO had already revealed exclusively a letter from Fenoge’s legal deputy director, Camilo Iván Rincón, in which he warned of fundamental irregularities that make the contract unfeasible, worth more than 164.422 billion pesos.
And the oversight body also warned of a possible nullity of the process, which will end up implicating several officials disciplinarily and criminally.
The addendum out of time
Regarding the reasons why the Attorney General’s Office suspended Giraldo, they point out that a forensic analysis determined that one of the addenda of the solar panel purchase process was generated after the allowed deadline.
“The identified situation presents an even more worrying dimension, since, although the forensic analysis of the metadata proves that the document was generated on July 8 2026 at 19:52:48, the text of addendum No. 3 is dated July 6, 2026, that is, two days before the actual creation date of the file and within the term in which the issuance of the act would have been legally timely,” the document reads.
It adds: “As can be seen, the entity and specifically its director Brayan Giraldo Ruíz, drafted the rules to carry out the open invitation process No. 006 of 2026, where he set the criteria that would regulate it and that were strictly binding for the entity and for those interested in the selection process.”
Overstepping functions?
For the oversight body, with his actions Mr. Giraldo Ruíz may have committed the offenses contained in article 72 of the General Disciplinary Code, specifically in numeral 9, regarding overstepping the functions conferred on him as expenditure authorizer.
In fact, there is talk of the possible commission of the crime of falsification by Giraldo Ruíz, due to the inconsistency between the date shown on said contractual document (addendum) and the actual creation date, proven through forensic analysis of its metadata, according to the technical report prepared by the National Directorate of Special Investigations of the Attorney General’s Office.
(Consult here all the articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit)
The oversight body has already notified Giraldo that if he wants to be heard in a free and spontaneous statement, he must inform in writing to set a date and time to carry out the proceeding.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@UinvestigativaET
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