The minister would have exceeded his duties by declaring the passport bidding process void.
The Attorney General’s Office called for a disciplinary trial and provisionally suspended the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Álvaro Leyva Durán, for three monthsdue to the possible irregularities that occurred during the passport bidding process.
The Disciplinary Investigation Chamber indicated that the chancellor would have incurred two disciplinary offensesprovisionally classified as very serious acts committed by way of fraud, the first by declaring tender 001 of 2023 void without having the factual, legal and technical foundations, which could have transgressed the principles that govern state contracting.
Secondly, the watchdog charged the minister for, allegedly, decree manifest urgency during the development of the contractual process without, apparently, there being grounds to adopt that determination.
Regarding the decision of the provisional suspension, the Disciplinary Chamber maintained that the measure was taken in order to avoid the possible repetition of the disciplinary offenses attributed to him, taking into account his role as authorizing the expenses of the Chancellery and that he serves as director. of the new contractual process that is being carried out for the management of passports. Finally, the entity ordered the archiving of the investigation in favor of the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, José Antonio Salazar Ramírez.