BOGOTA.- The Colombian Attorney General’s Office reported on Thursday the opening of a preliminary investigation into the national government to determine if there were irregularities in the rental of a house in Davos, Switzerland, with which Colombia was promoted within the framework of the World Economic Forum and that has been the target of criticism in the South American country.
It was an 80 square meter house located on Promenade Street that would have cost the government more than one million Swiss francs (1.2 million dollars), an investment that has caused controversy in the country by those who accuse the government of wasting money. and going against its announced purpose of austerity.
The Attorney General’s Office – the control body that investigates public officials – indicated in a statement that the collection of evidence began on Wednesday and will continue in the coming days to establish whether there were alleged irregularities in the contract with which the house was rented that could result in disciplinary offenses.
The “Casa Colombia”, as it was baptized, was inaugurated on Tuesday by the Colombian president Gustavo Petro who attended the high-level forum with the presence of political, business and cultural leaders from around the world.
“We want to replace, and that is the economic motive, the foreign exchange that Colombia receives from coal and oil – the majority of its foreign exchange for 40 or 50 years – with tourism,” Petro indicated at the formal ceremony.
The senator of the opposition Democratic Center, María Fernanda Cabal, asked the Attorney General’s Office to investigate “thoroughly” what she considers an “excessive expense” that is paid with citizens’ taxes, as she questioned on Thursday on her X account, formerly Twitter. In which she detailed that part of the money was spent on “dancers, screens, lights and so on.”
The house is part of a government strategy called “Colombia, the country of beauty,” which seeks to attract investors in areas such as infrastructure, tourism, networks and telecommunications, and sustainable mobility, as explained by the government.
Source: AP
