Colombia: Court blocks prosecutors’ access to collusion case evidence

Bogota’s High Court, represented by two judges and one magistrate, has denied the Attorney General access to evidence of possible irregularities in the award of the third contract to build the lane of the Bogota-Girardot highway, delaying the criminal investigation that the Office of the Prosecutor seeks to file against those involved.

The prosecutors have asked on three occasions to be allowed to probate evidence obtained during the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce’s (SIC) investigation on the subject, which includes emails, cell phone calls and economic evidence that would compromise up to three companies, including two from abroad.

The SIC announced in February that it would open a process for possible restrictive practices to free competition in the tender of the work, awarded in August 2016. “These suspicions led the SIC to collect evidence 20 days after the award. They found intact information, with the authorization of the people involved,” says the prosecution.

However, in the opinion of the judges, the evidence requested is confidential and personal data belonging to executives of the companies involved. In addition, they say, the prosecution has other “less invasive” means to obtain the evidence. Among the material collected by the SIC there is information from the Consorcio Plural Vias a Girardot, made up of Concreto Industrial and Constructora Conconcreto, which ultimately secured the contract.

Full Content: El Tiempo

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