Prosecutor's Office charges mayor of Manaure for irregularities in his possession

On April 10, the Attorney General's Office announced that it filed charges against the mayor of Manaure, La Guajira, Juan José Robles Julio, for alleged irregularities when registering and taking office as the first authority of the municipality for the period (2020-2023).

The watchdog seeks to establish whether the former president incurred grounds for inability, for holding office despite having an alleged relationship in the second degree of consanguinity (brother) with Carlos Arturo Robles Julio (2018-2021), who served as rector of the University of La Guajira within the 12 months prior to his election as mayor.

For these facts, in a judgment of the Administrative Court of La Guajira of January 15, 2021, confirmed by the Council of State, the election of Juan José Robles Julio as mayor of the municipality of Manaure was declared null and void, and the credential granted by the counting commission that accredited him as such was ordered to be canceled.

For the Entity, the former president was able to violate paragraph 4 of article 37 of Law 617 of 2000, which states that “He may not be registered as a candidate, nor elected, nor appointed municipal or district mayor: (...) 4. Anyone who has ties (...) of kinship up to the second degree of consanguinity, with officials who within twelve (12) months prior to the election have exercised administrative authority (...) in the respective municipality (...) '.

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At this procedural stage, the possible fault of the person under investigation was provisionally classified as very serious, committed as a very serious fault, for manifest violation of mandatory rules.

The Regional Prosecutor's Office of La Guajira indicated that, after the investigation phase, the file will be sent to the office designated to advance the disciplinary trial, before which the subjects of proceedings may submit disclaimers, free version, and provide and/or request evidence and their pleadings, if they deem it appropriate.

Other actions of the Office of the Procurator

The Public Ministry issued statements of objections to former San Martín councillors, Cesar, in the period 2016-2019, Heraldo Quintero Jiménez, Fernando González Navarro, Germán Quiñónez Valero and Wilmer Arias Jiménez, for alleged irregularities in the selection of the municipal official.

The Provincial Provincial Attorney's Office of Ocaña, Norte de Santander, is investigating them because the former officials, who were members of the corporation's Board of Directors in 2016, signed an agreement with the National Federation of Councils (Fenacón) to support the selection, without apparently meeting the requirements required by that entity by law.

According to the investigation, it appears that Fenacón was not constituted as a university or institution of higher education, nor did it specialize in the selection of personnel, so it allegedly did not meet the conditions of suitability and experience to support the election of the municipal official for the period 2016 — 2020.

For the supervisory body, former officials possibly violated the principles of morality, economy, transparency, objective selection and responsibility of the administrative function. For these events, the Office of the Procurator described the alleged conduct committed by the persons under investigation as a very serious offence committed as a very serious fault. The four former staff members may request to be heard in a free version if they so request.

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