Twenty-four hours after EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit revealed an audio recording of a meeting in which Juan Carlos Hurtado Parra, acting president of Ecopetrol, the head of the state company’s board of directors, was mentioned, former minister Luis Felipe Henao demanded his immediate resignation from the position.
In the 43-minute recording, a voice attributed to Manel Grau – the Catalan personal friend of former president Gustavo Petro and his ex-first lady, Verónica Alcocer – is heard discussing the assignment of high-ranking positions in the state company, multimillion-dollar drilling contracts, and even business opportunities in Venezuela.
A step aside
And other attendees at the breakfast even talk about business that a young man identified as Julián, Ricardo Roa’s boyfriend, would be doing.
However, the part that caused the most discomfort and concern in the oil company is where a man named ‘Víctor’ – a powerful contractor of the state company – claims that Hurtado’s resume, to be rehired at Ecopetrol, was delivered by a man known by the alias El Bachiller. Furthermore, that it was moved by him and Grau.
“In the audio, a voice attributed to Hurtado is heard admitting how his resume was moved”, an investigator told EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit after confirming that the recording is already in the hands of authorities.
And although Hurtado neither denied nor confirmed to EL TIEMPO having been at that breakfast, Henao asked him to step aside.
The board at the ‘Metropolitan Club’
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In fact, sources from the oil company told EL TIEMPO that although the topic was not planned to be discussed at yesterday’s extraordinary board meeting (prior to the general shareholders’ meeting scheduled for today), it ended up being included on the agenda.
EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit established that Herrera’s resignation was given verbally, after a few brief words. Also, Hildebrando Vélez, a key figure of petrismo on Ecopetrol’s board, also resigned.
“The board went to hold the session at the Metropolitan Club. And in the morning, it was being discussed whether Ecopetrol’s executive vice president, Dr. Camilo Barco Muñoz, will assume the presidency while Abelardo De La Espriella’s government appoints the new head of the oil company permanently,” explained the same source familiar with the case.
And added that the board was going to define the guidelines for the forensic audit that Ecopetrol will carry out on several scandals surrounding Gustavo Petro’s four-year term.
To the initial list, which included from the purchase of Termomorichal I and II from a former Roa boss, and the link between the purchase of his apartment and an alleged favoring of former police officer Juan Guillermo Mancera, several dark chapters related to gas and solar panel businesses have been added.
In fact, Hurtado himself, after assuring that his conduct has always been in accordance with the law and the company’s regulations, stated that he had asked the board president, Luis Felipe Henao, and the forensic auditor, Ricardo Rodríguez Yee, to include in that internal investigation the matter for which EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit had asked him: the meeting with Grau in which the audio was recorded.
Another case, to the Prosecutor’s Office
And although it has not yet been decided whether the matter will be included, what is clear is that the Prosecutor’s Office will be asked to investigate it.
This would be the second case revealed by this newspaper in less than 20 days that is requested to be handled by the prosecuting entity, which has already formally charged Ricardo Roa with influence peddling related to the purchase of the apartment and the alleged favors to the intermediary of the acquisition: former police officer Juan Guillermo Mancera.
Indeed, on August 29, Bayron Triana, former vice president of Energies for the Transition at Ecopetrol, admitted to EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit that he was pressured to close, before the Petro government expired, a multimillion-dollar gas purchase contract through Ecopetrol’s Houston office. According to him, the emissaries sent said they came on behalf of Casa de Nariño. And around the same dates, then-president Petro publicly referred to Triana and the failed gas acquisition.
(Consult all articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit here)
In the case of Juan Carlos Hurtado, an informant assured that one of the breakfast attendees had already admitted the recorded meeting. Also, the audio will undergo forensic analysis and voice comparison to establish that it was neither edited nor manipulated. Sources from the prosecuting entity confirmed to EL TIEMPO that they are already investigating the version given to this newspaper by Luis Enrique Rojas, former president of Hocol – Ecopetrol’s powerful subsidiary – about the offers from the Catalan Grau.
As for Hurtado, he had already filed a formal resignation warning that he would work until October 15. But, at the close of this edition, what was known is that they wanted him out of Ecopetrol immediately.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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