Brayan Giraldo Ruiz, executive director of the Non-Conventional Energy and Efficient Energy Management Fund (Fenoge), has just received an official letter, stamped ‘Urgent’, from the Attorney General’s Office giving him a sort of ultimatum regarding a multi-million contract for the purchase of solar panels, part of the presidential program package ‘Colombia Solar’, led by the Ministry of Mines, headed by Edwin Palma.
On Tuesday, EL TIEMPO had already exclusively revealed a letter from Fenoge’s legal deputy director, Camilo Iván Rincón, warning of fundamental irregularities that make the contract unfeasible, worth more than 164,422 million pesos. But now, the oversight body is warning of a possible nullification of the process, which will end up implicating several officials disciplinarily and criminally.
The warning and addendum 3
Indeed, in the oversight body’s letter, dated July 30 and signed by Marcio Melgosa, first prosecutor for Preventive Oversight of Public Function, Giraldo Ruiz is told that the responses he sent regarding modifications to the contract conditions through the so-called Addendum 3 were unsatisfactory.
Melgosa warns that the maximum deadline for issuing addenda expired on July 8, 2026, at 14:59 hours. However, the forensic analysis carried out by the National Directorate of Special Investigations (DNIE) on the XMP metadata of the file containing Addendum No. 3 proved that this file was created on July 8, 2026, at 19:52:48, Colombia time, and its metadata was last updated that same day at 20:59:05.
“That said, it is clear that Addendum No. 3 was generated four (4) hours, fifty-three (53) minutes, and forty-eight (48) seconds after the deadline set for issuing addenda,” the delegate states.
The implications
The document, in possession of EL TIEMPO, also points out that this is not a human error, as Fenoge wants to portray it: “It is a modification adopted outside the legally established terms for its issuance, a circumstance that directly compromises the principle of legality that must govern all contractual actions, regardless of the exempt contracting regime of Fenoge.”
Besides the procedural issue, the content of the late addendum is the other substantive point.
The delegate emphasizes that there are no technical studies supporting the modifications made to the ‘credit quota certification’ requirement: “In the timeline presented, it was evidenced that the requirement related to the credit quota certification was subject to successive modifications through Addenda No. 3, 4, and 5, going from being an enabling requirement of financial capacity and a requirement for contract signing, to being eliminated, later incorporated as a weighted factor, and finally reinstated as an enabling requirement without removing its status as an evaluation criterion.”
Within 24 hours
After reiterating that the identified behaviors have disciplinary and even criminal repercussions, the delegate gave Giraldo Ruiz a 24-hour deadline, which expires this Friday, to submit new information.
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Still, the entity assures that the award will be made next Monday. The expectation is to whom they will award the lucrative contract (if they insist on challenging the Attorney General’s Office).
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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