The audio attributed to the Catalan Manel Grau talking about the appointment of senior officials in Ecopetrol, millionaire contracts, and even Venezuela

On the eve of Ecopetrol’s shareholders’ meeting, an informant has just handed over to the authorities a 43-minute audio recording that, according to him, was recorded during a breakfast involving three people; one of them, the Catalan Manel Grau, a personal friend of former president Gustavo Petro and former first lady Verónica Alcocer.

The other diner, according to him, is a powerful contractor known as ‘Víctor’. And the third, he claims, would be Juan Carlos Hurtado, the current acting president of Ecopetrol and who will preside over next Tuesday’s assembly.

What is heard in the recording – made about a year and a half ago – seems to fit with the investigations already underway regarding corruption in contracts and appointments at the state oil company. For this reason, it has already been handed over to the authorities and, they say, it will be forwarded to the FBI in Miami as part of the same package of complaints filed two weeks ago by the mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez.

“The audio will undergo forensic examination to prove it was not edited and to perform a voice comparison, although one of the diners has already confirmed his participation,” the informant told EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit.

The recorded conversation discusses quotas in high positions at Ecopetrol linked to Manel Grau, who is attributed with having a direct line to then-president Gustavo Petro.

Additionally, there is mention of interest in drilling contracts through the figure of ‘works for taxes’, a detail that aligns with one of the points already being investigated by the internal audit – ordered by the new chairman of the board, Luis Felipe Henao, and carried out by Ricardo Rodríguez Yee, an independent board member – which involves Fiduprevisora.

“Thanks for coming (…) It’s to share with you what they say will happen this week. Osorio arrives today, after vacation, and he is told that now is his moment. Today is the 4th, so tomorrow,” a man with a Spanish accent, whose voice is attributed to Grau, is heard saying at the beginning of the recording.

The same voice mentions that they had already managed to get a vice president in place: “We managed to push to get a vice president named M. S. (…) He is a person who has been with the company for many years, who has a level of knowledge (…) But since he arrived, he was not part of Osorio’s group and they have tried to sideline him. Sideline in what sense? Empty his competencies, well works for taxes, out.”

Last June, a 22-second audio also attributed to Grau had already circulated in the media, in which he is heard saying he needed two résumés for the positions of crude manager in Bogotá and head of the office in Singapore.

At that time, officially, Ecopetrol told EL TIEMPO that those positions had been filled through internal competitions, selecting people who met all the requirements and had excellent résumés. Additionally, that the same mechanism was used to cover other appointments.

Grau never denied that first audio. And added to that, Luis Enrique Rojas, former president of Hocol – and today star witness for the Prosecutor’s Office against Ricardo Roa, former head of the state company, in the influence peddling case – admitted to EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit that he was pressured by Grau.

He said he was summoned to one of Roa’s apartments that he had rented to be told they would support him to stay in the subsidiary in exchange for receiving some résumés. Also, that he was backed by Verónica Alcocer, known as the ‘dancer’.

In another part of the breakfast audio, it is heard how they ask the person identified as Hurtado to appoint an official permanently.

“We would like to ask you that, when you arrive, you lend a hand with this matter (…). And together find people, it’s the key to Ecopetrol’s development”, the person identified as Grau is heard saying.

What has caught the investigators’ attention is that in the audio a powerful businessman nicknamed ‘Bachi’, named Jorge, is mentioned again, and who is attributed with exerting pressure to appoint vice presidents at the state company (paying for the position), to obtain multimillion-dollar contracts.

EL TIEMPO had already mentioned him on August 22 within a testimony claiming that the infrastructure businessman, with barely a sixth-grade education, had links to criminal gangs.

This time, it is the third interlocutor in the audio who refers to ‘Bachi’ and a “young man” close to Ricardo Roa. In fact, he tells the person identified as Hurtado that he was going to return to Ecopetrol thanks to the efforts of ‘Bachi’ and Grau.

“But I repeat, without you taking it the wrong way, do you consider and acknowledge that Manel did favors for you?”, Víctor says. And the other diner replies: “Yes. If not, I wouldn’t be here.”

However, ‘Víctor’ insists: “I don’t want you to take it the wrong way, but I want to say the following. I am the person who receives the résumé of this Mr. Jorge, the so-called ‘Bachi’. I receive his résumé, I am the one who initially pushed it, with Manel.”

And he adds: “There is no objection from this team to Mr. Julián participating in business opportunities that may arise and that are within his reach. We don’t want to be a thorn in the side, we don’t want to be competition for that young man or for Ricardo. But let it be clear that there was very good influence from Manel in your achievement, in getting this position which will be provisional, because, let’s say, the main goal to be achieved is for you to take over the position of this Mr. Osorio.”

In fact, it was suggested that, although then-president Gustavo Petro wanted Edwin Palma to replace Ricardo Roa, there was also the possibility that it would be the newcomer.

Later, again, the person identified as Víctor begins to talk about how he helped in the campaign and refers to alias Bachi: “Manel, as head of the team, what he can, let’s say, more than demand, because that word doesn’t exist here, is share with you those requests I left with your project vice president there (…) I don’t appear in any equation, I don’t appear in anything at all, because if there is, let’s say, a short circuit, I get burned (…) Right? This doesn’t exist. In case things escalate with this Mr. ‘Bachiller’, because everyone now respects him, even fears him, and is afraid of him, and it turns out I’m not afraid, but I do respect him.”

Midway through the breakfast, while the chef asked how they wanted their omelette, concrete business matters are heard. Even the controversial sale of Ecopetrol’s stake in the Permian well in the United States. That part of the conversation is attributed to Grau: “One we are not involved in is the sale of the fracking company. The Permian. But it belongs to the owners of the other one. Sell that, I don’t know, for 4 billion dollars?”

And he adds: “And there is a matter of connections with Venezuela, physical connections that can be made to secure 130,000 barrels a day for the next 20 years. And to make a field of our own, but Ecopetrol doesn’t want to get involved there. Maybe it has to be that way. The president already knows and I have been in meetings of this type.”

Then, he refers to other contracts: “There are other projects that are works for taxes. They have taken away contracts with drills to ask (sic) how many more, the better, because there is an order from above to extract all the oil they can.”

Finally, it is proposed to carry out weekly monitoring of these businesses. And they issue a warning saying it is inconvenient to go to Ricardo Roa’s apartment because he is “exposed” by the press and everything must be done personally.

The end of the conversation is a comment stating that several high-ranking officials of the Ecopetrol group during the Petro government paid to be placed in those positions, and the voice attributed to Grau says in this regard: “I’ll give you a fact. The current vice president who was just appointed, the current vice president of Ecopetrol with the least assets, has two million dollars. Can you explain that to me?”

This newspaper officially asked the acting president of Ecopetrol, Juan Carlos Hurtado, about the meeting in which he is placed and the content of the conversation. And although he neither denied nor confirmed his attendance at the breakfast that was recorded, he was emphatic that he has always acted in accordance with rules and the law.

And he announced that, after EL TIEMPO’s questions, he informed the chairman of the board, the chairman of the Internal Audit Committee, and the Compliance Directorate so that the matter is included in the forensic audit being carried out and to investigate whether he has acted under internal or third-party pressures that could affect the company.

The former ministers Henao and Rodríguez Yee confirmed they received a message from Hurtado informing them of this newspaper’s questions and requesting inclusion in the internal audit.

Grau was also sought, who has already returned Roa’s apartment that he had rented. But, at the close of this edition, he had not responded to messages left on his Colombian cell phone and his mobile in Spain, where – informed sources said – he is back.

EL TIEMPO asked the acting president of Ecopetrol, Juan Carlos Hurtado, about the meeting in which he is placed and if any authority has already questioned him about the matter: “So far, I have not been required by any authority regarding what is indicated in your message, so I am unaware of the mentioned audio.”

And he added: “In my 29 years in the oil and gas sector, I have always acted according to the procedures, rules, and laws that govern; I have never taken or executed actions, decisions, or appointments under pressure from bosses, peers, or third parties.”

He said his entry to Ecopetrol was through a headhunter, psychotechnical tests, and interviews.

(Check here all the articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit)

Regarding the possible business in Venezuela heard in the audio, he said: “Ecopetrol has not conducted or has commercial or goods and services agreements in Venezuela. The contracting is done by the Supply Vice Presidency.”

And he suggested consulting Organizational Talent about the positions held by another of the mentioned persons.

“I appreciate that before information about these matters is disseminated, verifications are made,” he said.

INVESTIGATIVE UNIT

u.investigativa@eltiempo.com

@UinvestigativaET

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