His relationship with the Yidispolítica and Agro Ingreso Seguro, and his low score on a test to get to the Comptroller's Office have him in the eye of the storm

José Felix Lafaurie, current president of the National Federation of Cattle Ranchers (Fedegan, in Spanish), was elected by Centro Democrático (Democratic Center) party to be his candidate for the Comptroller General of the Nation. This entity is in charge of ensuring the proper use of public resources and goods and contributing to the modernization of the State, through continuous improvement actions in the different public entities.

Leer en español: ¿Quién es el polémico aspirante que busca llegar a la Contraloría colombiana?

Recently, Lafauire, husband of the senator of the Democratic Center, María Fernanda Cabal, obtained the lowest score (30 points out of 100) in the test that according to the Congress evaluates the "professional, labor and academic of the applicant through the titles of studies, professional experience, teaching and authorship of professional training books, which are related and accompanied at the time of registration".

Who is Lafaurie?

Lafaurie is a Civil Engineer with a Master's degree in Economics from Universidad Javeriana. He has been deputy of Cesar, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Valledupar, Superintendent of Notaries and Registrar to President of Fedegan. So, where is the controversy?

Everything started in 2004, when he had to leave the Superintendence after the Attorney General's office sanctioned him for influence peddling, as evidenced by an article of that year published by El Tiempo, entitled: "Procuraduría fines 31 congressmen for levers".

Also read:  Colombia: Will Duque be able to bring peace to the country?

Four years later, Yidis Medina mentioned Lafaurie as one of the government officials who tried to convince her to change her vote in favor of the constitutional reform project that allowed Álvaro Uribe to have a second presidential term in 2006.

This scandal was known as the "Yidispolítica". However, former prosecutor Alejandro Ordóñez acquitted him in March 2009, according to La Silla Vacía.

Nuevo Arco Iris Foundation accused ranchers in 2006 as the main promoters of paramilitarism in Colombia, with Lafaurie as president in Fedegan. Although he denied such accusations, according to La Silla Vacía, "Lafaurie declared that the union did fund paramilitaries as a mechanism of self-defense against the guerrillas."

In June 2011, Lafaurie was called by the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Prosecutor's Office to explain meetings with the former Minister of Agriculture Andrés Felipe Arias in which they spoke about subsidies for Agro Ingreso Seguro. In the citation, he denied these meetings.

Thus, there remains the uncertainty of whether José Felix Lafaurie is the candidate that must reach the Office of the Comptroller General of the Nation.

LatinAmerican Post | Edwin Guerrero
Translated from “¿Quién es el polémico aspirante que busca llegar a la Contraloría colombiana?”