The governor of Antioquia, Colombia’s second-largest economy, could face prison on corruption charges.

Antioquia Governor Andres Julian Rendon, one of the most outspoken critics of Gustavo Petro on the far right, is under investigation for embezzlement and the improper execution of contracts.

Police posts left unused

Rendon served as mayor of Rionegro, a city bordering Medellin to the east, between 2016 and 2019.??

As mayor, the governor approved the construction of two new police posts, or Immediate Attention Commands (CAIs), in the Cuatro Esquinas and San Antonio de Pereira districts.??

Instead of opening a direct bidding process for the construction of these police posts, Rendon formed the Sustainable Development Company (Edeso) in 2016.

The company is owned by the Mayor’s Office, but operates quasi-independently, and was put in charge of further outsourcing the construction of the police posts.

Rendon appointed Rodrigo Hernandez as manager of Edeso. Both Rendon and Hernandez are members of the notorious Quintero clan, led by the convicted politician Ruben Dario Quintero.

This construction allowed Hernandez to outsource the construction without Rendon’s constraints as mayor.

The construction of the Police posts was subsequently outsourced for a value of $299 thousand (COP1,2 billion) and??was riddled with delays and cost overruns.

The two police posts stood empty for years because Edeso failed to obtain the approval of the National Police for the projects.

Prosecutors step in

After complaints by locals, the Rionegro Oversight Committee told the authorities that the buildings were standing empty and were used for illegal parties.

In April 2023, the Comptroller General’s Office reported the same and concluded that the mayor’s office had squandered the entire $299 thousand (COP1,2 billion) budget for the police posts.

“There are fiscal findings that will result in the people involved in the construction of these works having to return the money to the municipality, and these works will be used for another purpose or will have to be demolished,” anti-corruption activist Jhon Fredy Osorio told local news website DiariOriente.

The Prosecutor General’s Office subsequently launched an investigation and was ready to formally charge and issue an arrest warrant for Rendon and his co-conspirators in October 2023, in which the former mayor ran for governor of Antioquia.

After taking office in January 2024, the Medellin district prosecution forwarded Rendon’s case to the Prosecutor General’s delegate before the Supreme Court, which investigates congressmen and governors.

Rendon’s legal problems became significantly bigger after the current Prosecutor General, Luz Adriana Camargo, took office and reopened dormant cases, adopting a more active stance.

The governor has since suggested that the Supreme Court investigation is due to his opposition to the National Government.

After his years of managing Edeso, Hernandez succeeded Rendon as Mayor of Rionegro from 2020 to 2023, with the support of the Quintero clan. After Rendon became governor of Antioquia, Hernandez became manager at VIVA, a company with a similar purpose as Edeso, on a much bigger scale.