Ricardo Bonilla is the second finance minister to depart Petro’s authorities, which faces legislative hurdles and probes.
A key member of President Gustavo Petro’s authorities in Colombia has resigned, amid the newest corruption scandal to rock the administration.
Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla stepped down from his workplace on Wednesday, although he remained defiant within the face of accusations that he diverted funds from Colombia’s catastrophe aid company and acquired votes on a congressional committee concerned with authorities funds.
“I depart with my head held excessive, assured that I’ll persuade my investigators that I didn’t purchase silence nor votes from congressmen,” Bonilla wrote on social media.
He denied committing any crimes. “The defence I’m endeavor with my authorized crew is supported by fact and transparency.”
President Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, has weathered a string of scandals and legislative setbacks since taking workplace in 2022. However he stood by Bonilla, at the same time as he accepted the minister’s resignation.
“I do know that the accusation towards Bonilla is unfair,” Petro wrote in one in every of two prolonged missives on social media, describing Bonilla as a “true economist, dedicated to the requirements of his individuals”.
However, Petro added, “politics and legislation continued to be primarily based on corruption” in Colombia.
Petro rapidly changed Bonilla along with his vice minister of finance, Diego Guevara, on Wednesday afternoon.
Bonilla was the second finance minister to exit Petro’s authorities. He took over for Jose Antonio Ocampo in 2023, after Petro abruptly reshuffled his cabinet.
The scandal that introduced Bonilla down emerged earlier this 12 months when the general public prosecutor’s workplace opened an investigation into hefty contracts for the Nationwide Unit for Catastrophe Threat Administration, or UNGRD.
Some purchases allegedly concerned $10.5m contracts for faulty water tankers destined for the province of La Guajira, the place residents battle to entry potable water.
The previous head of UNGRD was accused of affect peddling, in a scandal that grew to incorporate Bonilla himself.
Colombia’s Supreme Court docket has since indicated its investigation hinges on alleged “crimes of bribery and potential illicit enrichment”.
The previous deputy director of UNGRD, Sneyder Pinilla — who himself is underneath investigation — has since turn out to be a cooperating witness. His legal professionals have stated he offered proof of a “legal construction” linking UNGRD to high-ranking federal officers.
However Petro has largely rejected accusations of corruption inside his authorities.
In October, for example, when election officers announced they have been investigating potential marketing campaign finance violations in Petro’s historic bid for workplace, the president framed the efforts as sabotage.
“The coup has begun,” Petro wrote on social media.
That probe can also be ongoing and includes not solely Petro but additionally his former marketing campaign supervisor Ricardo Roa.
Petro’s son, Nicolas Petro, additionally obtained house arrest in 2023 for allegedly accepting cash from people with ties to drug trafficking, although he has denied his father, the president, knew something in regards to the scheme.
President Petro tied the instances collectively in his statement on Wednesday about Bonilla’s resignation.
There are individuals, he wrote on social media, who need to use the scandal involving Bonilla “to make the financial coverage of the federal government collapse”.
“They’re the identical ones who now say that Bonilla denounced Roa and my son, when it’s merely an nameless liar from the month of October handed over to the Ministry of Finance,” Petro claimed.
“They need to divide us in fights that they themselves invent.”
