Cali's District Personería has provisionally suspended Diego Hau, director of the Special Administrative Unit for Public Services (UAESP), for three months without pay, related to a contract to modernize public lighting. Hau complies with the measure but questions its need, as the bidding process was revoked for technical reasons. The City Hall respects the decision and trusts the legality of the official's actions.
Diego Hau took over as UAESP director in October 2025 and found an ongoing bidding process to modernize Cali's public lighting, but with deficiencies. "What I found was that the process had deficiencies. So I decided to add time to the schedule to fully analyze the contracting process," Hau explained in an interview with Diario Occidente.
After receiving a citizen complaint, he extended the deadline again: "I added more time to the schedule to address that complaint." Later, he revoked the process because the execution period exceeded the available time before year-end. "Revoking the process was a decision to safeguard public resources and preserve transparency," he stated.
The suspension, imposed via Auto 2177 on December 15, 2025, stems from repeated modifications to the timelines that may have affected planning and transparency, according to the Personería. Hau, who has not received formal requests, questioned: "I don't understand why I'm suspended if the process was already revoked, there's a firm administrative act, and there's no way to interfere in a closed procedure."
Cali's City Hall stated that it "fully complies with and respects the decisions adopted by the District Personería." Additionally, the Comptroller General of the Republic, in a report signed by the delegate comptroller for Mines and Energy, concluded that no risks to public resources were evident and that the proposals did not meet enabling conditions, archiving the case without action recommendations.
Hau reaffirmed his conviction: "I have the conviction that the actions carried out during my management have responded to the general interest and have been duly supported from a technical and legal standpoint." All process information is public and available to oversight bodies.
