[News] Daniel Quintero's movement refers to a questioned company that donated to his campaign

[Akrapovic]

With the Independientes movement, Daniel Quintero managed to be mayor of the city, with the largest local vote in history. PHOTO Carlos Alberto Vásquez

 

 

The Independent Movement, to which Mayor Daniel Quintero belongs, responded to the journalistic note published by ELCOLOMBIANO on October 26 about the company Celeste Inversiones SAS, which explains how 10% of the donations to the campaign of the president in his aspiration to the Mayor of Medellín and that raises questions on issues such as its corporate purpose, its billing and the offices in which it has operated.

In social networks, the movement published a statement to explain that the information on income and expenses related to Quintero's campaign were duly reported to the National Electoral Council and is available for consultation on the Cuenta Claras portal, as is evident, since in that article it was very clear that the primary information came from there.

The party affirmed that as an independent movement, with financing needs, they were open to receiving donations from different individuals under the legal framework that regulates these issues. In this sense, they added, "controls were implemented to minimize the risk of establishing relationships with people or entities linked to cases of money laundering, terrorist financing or related crimes, as well as with people and companies that have criminal penalties, prosecutor or disciplinary ”.

To achieve this, as detailed in the letter, they consulted binding and restrictive lists and databases and reviewed the certificates of donations and the certificates of the legal origin of the resources received. In any case, they added that in this regard they acted under the principles of good faith and the presumption of innocence of the donors.

Regarding Celeste Inversiones SAS, they indicated that they hope that investigations by the competent authorities will be carried out, if there is merit to do so, regarding their commercial and business activity, against which they hope that it can "demonstrate its probity."

They do not answer, however, why it was a shell company that received almost no income in the years prior to the elections and yes, instead and as EL COLOMBIANO showed, for the elections its hiring skyrocketed and was linked to other companies in which their members appear and that contract millions in millions with decentralized entities of the Mayor's Office of Medellín.

The movement considered that with the article, ELCOLOMBIANO would be insinuating that in the campaign they had to surpass their legal powers to carry out “an inspection process” against donors, which would have exceeded their competence. On this issue, EL COLOMBIANO clarifies that there is no hint about it, what this media questions is why a company that managed so few resources, which was so small, ended up contracting with the Medellín Mayor's Office, after contributing to the campaign by Daniel Quintero.

The note referred to in the letter states that the company Celeste Inversiones SAS donated 35.5 million pesos (22.5 million in money and 13 million in kind) to the campaign that led the Independientes to position their leader as mayor Medellín for the period 2020-2023.

The heart of the matter is that this sum exceeded the profits that the company had the previous year, when they were 22 million pesos.

The year also coincides with an unusual increase in Celeste's turnover, from 350 million pesos in 2018 to 4,195 million pesos in 2019, supposedly for passenger and merchandise transport services. All despite the fact that it works in a narrow fifth-floor apartment in the west of Medellín and does not have cars or parking spaces.

It was also known that Celeste Inversiones SAS was officially formed on October 12, 2016 with a capital of just one million pesos, according to the registry that rests in the Chamber of Commerce of Medellín for Antioquia.

So far it is known that the company has operated in two locations in its five-year history. The first is a house that does not have a nomenclature, located in the Robledo Fuente Clara neighborhood, a sector mostly in strata 1 and 2. Neighbors in the sector said they did not know that a company had operated there.

The current headquarters is on the fifth floor, in the first stage of Altos de Calasanz, in the Calazanía sector, next to the El Pesebre neighborhood, which are homes that the Mayor's Office of Medellín has granted for 16 years for relocated families in the area. close to the entrance to the Western Tunnel, as well as displaced by violence and victims of natural tragedies.

The current address, in stratum 2, does not seem to fit in with a firm that invoices several billion pesos a year and in an economic field that, unlike technology companies, requires a deployment of personnel and installed capacity. Neighbors also said they did not know that a company operates there.

 

LINK: https://www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia/respuesta-del-movimiento-independientes-a-noticia-de-el-colombiano-sobre-empresa-celeste-OL15962185