On January 20, the Quetzal Port Company (EPQ) published on its social networks the receipt of 20 forklifts. The commercial vehicles were awarded six months earlier, for an amount of Q68 million.
Although the forklifts were new, port workers publicly denounced and broadcast videos showing that they do not meet the required load specifications.
The supplier was Alel, SA, whose only clients are the Empresa Portuaria Nacional Santo Tomás de Castillo (Empornac) and EPQ. In the last four years, the company achieved contracts for Q353.9 million in both ports and between 2012 to date it has totaled Q404.1 million, in most cases as a sole supplier.
The representative of the company is Manuel de Jesús Jordán Gálvez, who was a private supplier to Empornac and between October and December 2012 he sold “electrical materials to protect the underground electrical network and contracting of services”, a contract for Q2.9 million.
Jordán Gálvez has sold braided rope reels, coastal surveillance systems, steel cables, acquisition of weather stations, radio transmitters, license updates, connection services, marine engines, among others, to port companies.
His company, Alel, SA operates under the trade name Colombias Boutique, a company that sells pants and Prosi, and has its tax address at 13th Street and 6th Street. avenue, Puerto Barrios, Izabal.
An attempt was made to communicate with the company at the numbers registered in Guatecompras, but they were disabled.
20 forklifts of different tons of capacity were acquired for operations at EPQ
Five three-ton forklifts, five 7-ton forklifts, 3 10-ton forklifts, three 15-ton forklifts, two 20-ton forklifts and two 32-ton forklifts. pic.twitter.com/VygsDTYrPN— Quetzal Port Company (@PortuariaEPQ) January 25, 2024
sells everything
The company Alel, SA was established before the Property Registry in January 2007, by Miguel Ángel Jerónimo Benítez, a lawyer and notary who resides in Puerto Barrios, Izabal. The legal document states that the brothers Augusto Enrique and Érick Alfonso Leal Méndez appeared.
In 2012, Erick Alfonso was deputy auditor of Empornac. He was also an advisor to the deputy for the Izabal district, Byron Chacón and, in 2015, he was a candidate for deputy for said department for the defunct Renewed Democratic Freedom party (Líder).
Both Érick and his brother, Augusto Enrique, entered into a contract for the incorporation of a public limited company for the company Alel, SA, with a clause that allowed that with the resolution of the board of directors or the sole administrator, as the case may be, “other or other trade names, as convenient for the company.”
The document states that the company could provide extraction, processing, distribution, marketing, transportation, import, export, representation, consulting, rental and sale services of all types of raw materials, products and merchandise, especially technological services, vehicles, transportation services. transportation of people, construction and other legal businesses, including entertainment.
The incorporation document adds that the main purpose of the company will also be the promotion, establishment and development of all types of activities.
Suspicions
Ricardo Monterroso, general manager of EPQ, regarding the awards of said supplier, limited himself to stating that “in the Quetzal Port Company there are contracts still under review, and based on the results of these audit analyzes and technical expertise, corrective measures will be taken immediately. according to the applicable law.”
When consulted, the National Commission against Corruption indicated that the port sector is a point of strategic interest for the Arévalo government, “therefore, they must operate with transparency, efficiency and security, in compliance with national laws and international treaties.”
They add that the Commission will work together with the Executive, as well as with the different bodies “in an analysis of the operating conditions of port companies, in order to establish mechanisms that in the long term guarantee corruption-free performance,” they conclude.
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