The Supreme Court of Justice has put the spotlight on two key figures in Colombian politics: Carlos Ramón González, former director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency, currently a fugitive and asylum seeker in Nicaragua, and Sandra Ortiz, former presidential advisor.
Both were summoned to testify in the framework of the process against former congressmen Iván Name Vásquez and Andrés Calle Aguas, arrested for allegedly receiving bribes of 3,000 million and 1,000 million pesos, respectively, from cost overruns in contracts of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (Ungrd)according to the media Change.
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The preparatory hearing for the trial will be held virtually on Thursday, March 5, 2026, at 2:00 pm.
Although public attention initially focused on Name and Calle, the Supreme Court has made it clear that Ortiz and González are fundamental pieces to understand the dimension of the corruption plot that affects senior officials and former congressmen.
In the case of Ortiz, the investigation indicates that she would have acted as an intermediary for González: she personally delivered a suitcase with bills to Name in Bogotá and, according to the investigations, she would also have transferred funds to Calle in Montería.
For his part, González, from Nicaragua, He is identified as the intellectual author of the payments, which would have served to accelerate government reforms in Congress.
The corruption network revolves around the purchase of forty tank trucks to supply drinking water to La Guajira.
According to Sneyder Pinilla, former deputy director of the Ungrd and sentenced to five years in prison for admitting his participation, the bribes came from cost overruns in these contracts and, in the case of Calle, cryptocurrencies were even used to transfer one million pesos.
The details provided by Pinilla are considered key to reconstructing the network’s modus operandi and establishing how illegal payments were linked to legislative decisions.including health and pension reforms processed in 2023.
The Court has ordered that González’s statement will only be made if he expressly waives his right to remain silent and is accompanied by his defense attorney.
This, according to judicial sources, opens the door to clarifying the exact role of González in the channeling of resources and his relationship with Ortiz, as well as the existence of possible coordination structures between senior officials to influence the legislative agenda.
Ortiz, meanwhile, faces charges of influence peddling, embezzlement and money laundering, and is also under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office.
Despite the protection action that he filed seeking to stop his summons, the Court rejected his request, making it clear that his testimony is essential to understand the money route and the participation of different actors in the Ungrd, according to the media. Change.
The investigations include technical analysis and accounting expertise, judicial inspections of properties linked to Calle and location tracking of vehicles and telephone numbers of those involved, including Ortiz and González.
Name’s defense, for example, has presented records that, according to them, prove that the congressman was not in Bogotá on the day Pinilla claims he received the money, arguing that he was coordinating the funeral of the artist Fernando Botero on October 12, 2023.
The Court has also summoned other senior officials such as Olmedo López, former director of the Ungrd, to explain how the money loans to Pinilla were agreed upon and who authorized the possible cost overruns on the tank trucks.
López must detail whether a structure known as a “conclave” existed, made up of officials with the ability to influence legislative decisions in favor of the Government.
The judicial process includes former ministers and other witnesses proposed by Calle’s defense, but it is Ortiz and González who concentrate the public and media interest.
His statement could clarify not only the money flows but also the possible coordination of senior officials and parliamentarians in the corruption network linked to the Ungrd, a scandal that promises to shake Colombian politics.
