Benedetti case at DIAN: Supreme Court sends file to Prosecutor's Office
The Supreme Court forwarded to the Prosecutor's Office the case against Armando Benedetti for allegedly recommending civil servants at the DIAN. Thirty-two congress members were left without investigation.
Supreme Court transfers DIAN recommendations file to Prosecutor's Office
The Trial Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice forwarded to the General Prosecutor's Office the file against former Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, accused of having arranged appointments, transfers and promotions of officials at the National Tax and Customs Authority (DIAN), according to infobae.com.
The decision was based on a matter of jurisdiction: Benedetti ceased to be a senator on 19 July 2022, from which date the Court was unable to investigate him for acts occurring after that parliamentary status ended.
The ruling orders "remitting a complete copy of the present proceedings to the Prosecutor Delegated before the Supreme Court of Justice so that it may investigate the conduct of Armando Alberto Benedetti Villaneda, in accordance with what is stated in the operative part of this decision".
Thirty-two congress members left without investigation
Concurrently, the Trial Chamber authorised the preliminary investigation against 32 congress members to be filed away, among them Alfredo Deluque, Jorge Alejandro Ocampo and Ciro Antonio Rodríguez Pinzón, finding that there were insufficient grounds to open a full inquiry.
The official document notes that the Chamber evaluated the evidence gathered in the preliminary phase against parliamentarians such as Mauricio Pardo Díaz, Enrique Cabrales Baquero, Saray Elena Robayo Bechara, Liliana Esther Bitar Castilla, Yenica Sugein Acosta Infante, Daniel Restrepo Carmona and more than twenty other congress members and former officials accused of requesting positions or transfers within the tax authority.
The origin: accusations by former minister Luis Carlos Reyes
The case began with a complaint by former Commerce Minister Luis Carlos Reyes, who provided conversations in which Benedetti allegedly arranged, on at least four occasions, positions at the DIAN for people in his circle.
Among the names mentioned are Nancy Patricia Holguín, Alejandro Gutiérrez and Mario Olea, linked to possible transfers at offices in Barranquilla and Cartagena. According to the file, on 17 August 2022, merely 17 days after Gustavo Petro took office as President, Benedetti allegedly began the arrangements.
According to Holguín's curriculum, she served as tax director in Barranquilla and Benedetti allegedly requested her promotion, with Gutiérrez proposed to replace her. Olea, a DIAN inspector, was allegedly put forward by Benedetti to assume the directorship of the agency in Cartagena.
On 9 March 2025, Reyes stated on social media that Adelina Covo and Nicolás Petro had allegedly requested the customs offices in Barranquilla and Cartagena for people recommended by Benedetti. Reyes maintained that he rejected these requests because his criteria coincided with President Gustavo Petro's instruction to avoid clientelism.
Benedetti's response
In response to the accusations, Benedetti called Reyes a "criminal" and questioned his loyalty to the president. "You are a criminal, sick in the head over likes, so dishonest and so perverse in your disloyalty to the president", said the then Interior Minister.
Benedetti also warned that he would file a criminal complaint: "Your statements are injurious and slanderous and I will report you criminally for them. Stop lying and making things up and have the decency to resign", he said.
What comes next
The General Prosecutor's Office must determine whether there are sufficient grounds to open a preliminary investigation against Benedetti for the reported acts. The former minister's name had appeared alongside more than 30 congress members, former officials and politicians within the scope of the same case related to alleged arrangements for positions within the DIAN.
Source: Google News CO — Crime