They are looking for two young people who fell into the Cauca river between Marmato and La Pintada

Volunteer firefighters and other relief agencies in the municipality of Marmato, Caldas, are looking for two young men who accidentally fell into the Cauca river while fishing in the surroundings.

The search focuses on areas surrounding Marmato and La Pintada. The missing persons were identified as, Leonel, 16 years old and Martin Duque, 22.

According to the Marmato firefighters, they received the emergency call that three people had fallen into the river, but when they arrived at the site they were informed that one of them left by their own means, so they began a search in the area to find the whereabouts of the two disappeared.

The third citizen who managed to save himself from being dragged by the river, identified himself as 27-year-old Gustavo Adolfo López.

The commander of the local fire brigade, José Hernando Gallego, said that he immediately said that the isolation of units was immediately available in the first response for the attention of the case.

Fernando José Muñoz Duque, former mayor of the municipality of Dosquebradas, Risaralda, was presented by the Attorney General's Office, along with 12 other former officials and individuals who had appropriated public resources and directed contracts in their favor.

According to the evidentiary material held by the Prosecutor's Office, the former official had directed the recruitment so that it remained in the hands of “some of his friends and close people” who presented themselves as representatives of companies, foundations or associations.

These contracts were tendered to carry out “educational campaigns for the non-use of gunpowder, recycling plans, programs for the collection and disposal of construction waste in public spaces and water sources, maintenance of septic wells in rural areas, and pedagogy on responsible pet ownership”.

The prosecutor succeeded in establishing that the contracted companies did not have the experience, technical or financial capacity necessary to carry out their contractual responsibilities. In fact, they would be called paper companies, since the assets did not exceed 2 million 500 thousand. It was even evident that the contracting process was done directly, without carrying out previous market studies, presenting false quotes, in addition to ignoring several essential requirements.

The contracts investigated have a value of 2,961 million pesos, of which the Prosecutor's Office proved that they appropriated 1,878 million pesos, of which 239 million pesos were handed over to then Mayor Fernando Muñoz. It was also possible to determine that the contracts were fully paid, but the activities of the contract were partially fulfilled.

During the hearing of the former mayor, a prosecutor described how the alleged embezzlement of the 239 million pesos was committed,

“intentionally omitted the duty to supervise and control the resources allocated for the execution of these; to see that how the highest authority of the municipality retains it despite the delegation. Embezzlement is based on the non-execution of activities, cost overruns, the payment of activities that did not generate costs to contracting companies or presenting fraudulent media, in order to appear to be fulfilling the objects of the agreement; among other irregularities, identified in the execution of these contracts. Consequently, the Prosecutor's Office estimates that the total value of embezzlement is 838,280,811 pesos; of these monies Mr. Fernando José Muñoz Duque resolutely appropriated for himself and directly the sum of 239,316,250 pesos.”

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