The trial over alleged corruption in Neiva's 2020 School Feeding Program (PAE) contracting moves forward with a new judicial timeline, led by Judge Olga María Erazo. Former mayor Gorky Muñoz Calderón, now a Senate candidate, faces charges alongside ex-officials and contractors. The preparatory hearing aims to wrap up evidence discovery to start the oral trial in March.
Nearly five years after the corruption scandal in the 2020 PAE contracting emerged, the Sixth Criminal Circuit Court in Neiva has set a timeline to speed up proceedings. The indictment was filed on August 23, 2020, but hearings have progressed slowly. During the resumption of the preparatory hearing, Judge Olga María Erazo warned: “I want to warn you: evidence discovery cannot keep extending indefinitely. We will finish with the discoveries that have been made.” She rejected defense requests for extensions and set March 16 as the deadline to end this phase and start the oral trial.
The prosecution charges the accused with offenses including improper contract awarding, undue interest in contract awarding, and violations of legal ineligibility and incompatibility rules. These relate to the direct award of a 5.25 billion peso contract to the Asociación de Estudiantes Afrodescendientes de Nariño (Asoformando) for 105,000 rations to public school students in Neiva, and 300 million for oversight to Fundación Colombia Florece. Both entities are linked to former councilor Haiden Otoniel Vergara Quiñones, a campaign donor to Muñoz.
Involved parties include former mayor Gorky Muñoz Calderón, ex-Education Secretary Giovanny Córdoba Rodríguez, legal advisors Juan Felipe Molano and Andrés Camacho Cardozo, as well as contractors Carmen Rosaída Castillo Arboleda and Miguel Alfonso Banguera Jaramillo. The prosecution lists 33 witnesses, 568 material elements, and 20 disks of phone intercepts. The defense added six new witnesses.
Muñoz, removed and disqualified for nine years and six months by the Attorney General's Office in 2023, continues his Senate campaign due to a Council of State appeal suspending the sanction. The criminal case, prioritized for its effect on public funds for 105,000 vulnerable students, risks prescription, but the judge insists on no further delays.
