Even in the Houston and Singapore branches, executives and middle management are preparing for the return of Ricardo Roa, head of the Ecopetrol Group, who, just before a double criminal charge against him was completed, requested vacation, unpaid leave, and another medical leave.
According to the records, his break ends on July 27 and he would legally return on the 28th of this month, 10 days before the inauguration of the elected president Abelardo De La Espriella, who has called him a thief and criminal, as well as responsible for the bleeding of the state oil company.
In fact, in recent meetings in Washington, with international banks and monetary authorities, Vice President José Manuel Restrepo said they will seek to immediately reverse the restrictions on oil and gas exploration and exploitation imposed by outgoing president Gustavo Petro with Roa at the helm.
Automatic return?
But quietly they say that Roa himself has notified his return to deliver a report on his management.
However, high sources at Ecopetrol assured EL TIEMPO that it will not be an automatic return and that there are already voices that will ask that the board meeting next Thursday discuss the convenience for the company of Roa’s return, who has already been summoned to a trial hearing on August 20 for the influence peddling case.
This arose from an investigation by EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit into the opaque purchase of his luxurious apartment 901, the intermediation of former police officer Juan Guillermo Mancera, and pressures for lucrative deals in the state company, which Roa has denied. The other case is the violation of campaign spending limits in the Petro president 2022-2026 campaign, of which Roa was manager.
“In addition, there will be a request to put on the table alleged key resignations in the Human Talent and Technology vice presidencies that would come with hefty severance packages. And for the board to evaluate the status of a project valued at 1.189 billion dollars that has already started,” said an official. And added that a package of threats to vice presidents is also sought to be included.
Voting and ‘indictment’
On the Roa issue, EL TIEMPO investigated and established that there is a factor that will weigh when defining his return: that the current board will remain making decisions for at least 57 more days and there are Petro majorities.
Indeed, although the independent members, Ricardo Rodríguez Yee and Luis Felipe Henao, as well as the USO representative, César Loza, and Juan Gonzalo Castaño, have left records of the harm of having a president under criminal prosecution, the latter left Ecopetrol by order of Casa de Nariño.
“If the case goes to a vote, with new evidence included, Roa will have five votes in favor against three. But the five will assume the legal consequences before U.S. authorities who equate a summons to trial with an accusation/indictment”, said the same source.
And while he denied versions about an alleged meeting between board members to define Roa’s return and his definitive exit from Ecopetrol, he confirmed that in the first assembly held by the De La Espriella government they will only be able to remove three of the five Petro supporters from the board.
The ‘abelardists’
Several executives say there is a tense atmosphere due to President Petro’s accusations that ‘abelardist officials’ are blocking key gas purchase contracts until De La Espriella arrives.
And in Barrancabermeja, leaflets began circulating pointing to executives for having requested that refinery shutdown contracts, worth 700 million dollars, be halted, accompanied by allegations of bribe payments of up to 3 percent.
The flyers claim that the halt of those refinery contracts will trigger layoffs. However, from the oil company itself they explained that it is a temporary halt, for the 2027 schedule. And that this year’s schedule will be fully met. In fact, next Monday there is a plant shutdown at the Barrancabermeja refinery.
‘Dirty war’ and the LBCC
“We are in a complex dirty war and it is not free. It is because they want to expose those who must give explanations before justice and intimidate others who have acted according to the law. They don’t want us to leave undefeated with the change of government,” said a vice president.
And another, who could eventually stay in the state company, talks about threat notes about smear campaigns against him. It is even claimed that officials have preferred to go on vacation to avoid signing contracts.
EL TIEMPO investigated and established that one of these is related to the so-called Fuel Quality Baseline (LBCC), a macro project approved by the board in March 2025 and amounting to more than 1.189 billion dollars.
What is sought is to enable a plant at the Barrancabermeja refinery by December 31, 2030, to adjust fuel quality to the requirements of a standard that comes into effect in January 2031 and avoid a possible gasoline import.
The project requires several contracts, and those already signed are for civil works, for land removal and leveling, studies, purchase of long-delivery equipment, engineering and designs, for 130 million dollars.
“However, it is expected that the largest investments will fall to the De La Espriella government,” explained an informed source who added that Reinaldo Villalba’s vacation, refinery project manager, was scheduled since January.
EL TIEMPO officially consulted Ecopetrol about the resignations and the conditions of Roa’s return, but by the time of this edition they only responded with the end date of his leave and the fact that, officially, there are no resignations yet from executives in the Technology and Human Talent areas.
(Check here all the articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit)
Juan David León, Roa’s attorney, was also consulted. However, he said he had not been able to communicate with him and that, since these are administrative matters, he was not aware of his return.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@UinvestigativaET
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