In a trial by tax houses, the Director of the Police questioned inspector Salamanca – Investigation – Justice

This Tuesday, in a hearing at the Attorney General’s Office, the Director of the Police Óscar Atehortúa questioned the Police Inspector, General William René Salamanca, one of the witnesses in the case investigated by the control body for alleged irregularities in tax houses in Tolima known as Cenop, as well as for alleged faults by General Atehortúa in internal investigations in that case.

On the other hand, one of the four charges that the Attorney General’s Office handed to the director of the Police is related to a meeting, in December 2019, between Salamanca and him. In that meeting, Atehortúa He allegedly abused his functions by sending the inspector general, who was investigating irregularities in Cenop, on vacation for 400 days.

(Read also: Director of the Police, Óscar Atehortúa, is heard at the Prosecutor’s Office)

From 8 am to 7:10 pm the procedure was carried out before the Attorney General’s Office, in the morning Marco Antonio Velilla, Óscar Atehortúa’s defense lawyer, questioned General Salamanca, and in the afternoon it was the turn of the Police Director himself.

Atehortúa questioned Salamanca, among other things, why he did not consult the general director about the transfer of policemen from one office to another in the Police. Likewise, he asked him things such as how many vehicles the general inspection of the Police had for December 2019, since in his testimony, Salamanca maintained that During a visit made by inspection investigators to the Cenop project, they had to go in a vehicle of the Police Intelligence Directorate.

(You may be interested in: The process that brought against two senior police generals)

Several technical questions later, Atehortúa went into details about the questioned meeting on December 19 at the Police Directorate in which, after a discussion, Atehortúa sent the inspector general on vacation.

In that context, he asked if Salamanca told Atehortúa that day that he was upset by the order to transfer two investigators from the Inspection, to which Salamanca agreed. However, step followed, Atehortúa introduced a document at the hearing that certifies that these two uniformed men were not transferred in 2019, but in 2020, that is, that did not happen prior to the meeting in his office.

Among other things, Atehortúa also cited a document that indicates that within the operation of the institution, the director can take someone on vacation. In fact, the director of the Police asked Salamanca to read that document in audience and then asked him: “In accordance with that, can the director general of the Police take someone on vacation?” to which Salamanca replied: “Yes, but not for 400 days.”

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On the other hand, the Police Director asked the Inspector General if he ordered a review of the processes that Atehortúa himself filed when he himself served as Inspector General. Although Salamanca denied it, Atehortúa cited documents signed by Salamanca himself in which he spoke of several cases that were from the date Atehortúa was an inspector.

Towards the end of the day, Atehortúa began asking questions about comments between himself and Salamanca before and after the former’s appointment as director, as well as comments that Salamanca supposedly made. against another general: General Jorge Luis Vargas, today the police director of citizen security.

For example, Atehortúa asked Salamanca if he asked him if he (Salamanca) was elected as director of the Police to accompany him as deputy director, likewise, he asked if Salamanca did not tell him several times to reconsider the continuity of General Vargas because “it was a danger to the general director of the Police “. The first was recognized by Salamanca, the second was categorically denied.

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Faced with various questions to which Salamanca replied that he did not remember, General Atehortúa concluded his interrogation by saying: “Given his poor memory, I end my questions here.”

At about 6 pm the testimony of General Salamanca was concluded and he asked for the floor to say goodbye, in his message he stated that he respects and admits General Atehortúa and that the entire disciplinary process that began with the Cenop process is not “no war of powers”.

(In context: Defense of Atehortúa says that the case against him is due to a power struggle)

“I note that there is no plot against the director general of the National Police here. I note that here there has only been one purely institutional purpose of performing ethical and correct work in the fight against corruption. I put on record that there is no confrontation here with the general director of the Police. I am respectful of the general director of the Police, it is nothing personal, “he said.