Reficar: full turn

* Now it is the best work in the country

* Demonstration of reasonableness and probity

After Colombia, as a result of what happened around the construction of the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar), remained in suspense for several decades with top-level officials questioned and cornered by an alleged multimillion-dollar case of corruption and an alleged detriment prosecutor that became emblematic, even in the international arena, it was fully demonstrated that they had proceeded well, honestly and sensibly, and in keeping with high national interests.

In this way, what some time ago was a very damaging issue for Colombian public policies and apparently shone like a gigantic stain on the national future, which served not a few to denigrate and carry out aggressive and false political activism, ended, for On the contrary, in what should have happened from the beginning: that the entire country, with its corresponding authorities, would claim the international contractor for its negligence and lack of suitability to comply with the contractual clauses to which it had committed.

Indeed, these days the accredited Arbitration Tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce issued a final award, ruling the responsibility of the North American contractor firm Chicago Bridge and Iron, instead of condemning the Colombian party (which many took for granted). , and forced him to pay a billion dollars plus interest to the country after proving his guilt in the cost overruns, due to delays and other aspects of the crucial industrial project that today allows Colombia and Ecopetrol to have an essential performance in terms of refining and other activities related to petroleum derivatives.

In fact, the scandal of cost overruns increased when the Comptroller’s Office, unlike the Attorney General’s Office, issued a gigantic judgment of fiscal responsibility for almost 3 trillion pesos against former members of the Ecopetrol board of directors, former Reficar officials and alternate contractors, that in no small measure gave coba so that the international company felt triumphant and with an asset in favor of its purposes, not only against the national treasury, but against the reputation and management of the largest company of all Colombians, as is Ecopetrol, owner of Reficar.

In this way, an uproarious episode that made front-page headlines came to an end and contributed to deepening the distrust of Colombians themselves in their directives, their professionals and technical and administrative operators, and the management of their companies. Because if the Comptroller’s Office had previously indicated a fiscal detriment of its own, for many, it was easy to deduce without filters that something very shady had been cooked in the interlinings of the project, beyond the weather reasons, strikes and other incidents that affected the construction of the refinery. And from which the contractor tried to take advantage that was finally denied outright by the highest international arbitration bodies.

There were, therefore, no such anomalies that tried to undermine the prestige of Ecopetrol and Reficar, as well as their directives, and whose purpose was to suspend the work, which would have been disastrous. This decision to continue, which was not easy and required courage, is not only an exemplary demonstration of good governance of public affairs, but also fully vindicates the honorable and competent conduct of those who acted consulting the common good and safeguarding the interests of all. the Colombians. Indeed, it was a success to continue with the project, until its completion, increasing the national patrimony and overcoming the pressures to leave the work as a white elephant. So, in accordance with the international judgment, the Colombian authorities have to proceed to leave the honor intact and pay for the enormous injury caused to those who made the relevant decisions.

There remain, of course, lessons that can be repeated. It is well known that some international companies, more than carrying out the operations and activities for which they are contracted, seek to generate lawsuits in order to obtain colossal benefits from legal disputes against the country. And it is wrong, in that direction, to act as a sounding board on the part of the Colombian authorities themselves, far from unraveling the true roots of the claims that are raised, as happened with Reficar. This was, unfortunately, a symbolic case, which must never be repeated.