The current Comptroller General’s Office presented evidence to Colombian prosecutors implicating former Comptroller General Julio Cesar Turbay Quintero in the Saludcoop financial scandal, various media reported Tuesday.
Following a detailed review of the troubled health insurance company (EPS) Saludcoop’s financial irregularities, the Comptroller General’s Office requested that the Colombian Prosecutor General’s Office investigate the possible involvement of Quintero, the previous fiscal watchdog.
Saludcoop was repossessed by the Colombian government in May after inconsistencies in its financial records indicated embezzlement and fraud.
According to the prosecutor general, corrupt Saludcoop officials would routinely reject patients’ applications for medical assistance from the government, then keep the medical assistance money for themselves.
Sandra Morelli, the present comptroller general, submitted a report to the prosecutor general overviewing these problems, said RCN Radio.
The 15-page report states that the conduct of Quintero and several of his delegates “ultimately favored the interests of the EPS Saludcoop.”
A 2009 audit, allegedly manipulated by Quintero, benefited Saludcoop in a $240 million settlement with the government health agency Supersalud.
