It has been a bad week for Gustavo Petro’s government. To infiltration scandals by borrowed dissidents Calarca At the highest levels of state, there is the decision of the National Electoral Council (CNE) to impose sanctions on the presidential campaign of Colombia’s first leftist president for violating funding limits by more than 5.3 billion pesos ($1.4 million). The decision, unprecedented in the country’s political history, does not directly affect the president because of his presidential prerogative, but it shakes one of his closest allies: Ricardo Roa, the director of that 2022 campaign and today’s president of Ecopetrol, Colombia’s largest company.
Rua, along with Treasurer Lucy Eddy Mogollon and Auditor Maria Lucy Soto, must respond to a fine of about P6,000 million. Although the penalty is administrative rather than judicial and less criminal, it opens a front that goes beyond politics and could damage the reputation of the oil company. “If the president is questioned, the whole system collapses from there,” warns Liliana Gutierrez, director of Lemaître Consultores, a trade compliance firm. More because the CNE will certify copies of his file to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to criminally investigate the conduct of Engineer Rua.
Natalia Nehm, CEO of NNR Estudio Legal, agrees that the case puts the governance of mixed-ownership companies in check: “There is no precedent for a campaign member being questioned to be the head of one of the most powerful companies in the country,” she tells this newspaper. Remember that the penalty can lead to criminal proceedings if documents are proven to be forged. “The board of directors must evaluate Roa’s continuity for credibility reasons. In the private sector, when someone faces a legal decision against him, the board must provide a very structured justification for his continuity,” he adds, citing the case of the multinational Nestlé, which fired its CEO, Laurent Freix, over an undisclosed romantic relationship with a direct report.
In the midst of the storm, Blu Radio revealed on Thursday that the president spoke with Roa after learning of CNE’s decision, even before the Ecopetrol CEO was officially notified. The call took place, according to the station, while the company was analyzing legal solutions and preparing the board of directors for a regular meeting held in the afternoon and evening. The penalty is not a minor event, it occurs when there has already been discussion about company politicization, corporate governance, and investor confidence. The situation has been sensitive since the resignation of its president, Monica de Greif, from the board of directors in October, due to her disagreement with the strategic direction that the government seeks to give to Ecopetrol, especially due to the insistence on buying Monomeros and importing gas from Venezuela.
The name warns that the board – where the government controls seven of the nine seats thanks to its 88.49% stake – must decide whether retaining a sanctioned chairman harms Ecopetrol’s credibility and strategic goals. The expert adds: “The normal thing is for a study to be conducted by the Ethics and Regulatory Compliance Program.” The two experts consulted agree that it is desirable for the board to remove Roa from his position, but they see this as unlikely. “It’s a message the government didn’t want to deliver,” says Gutierrez, referring to the noise the president has already faced. Among others, Rua was accused of illegal interceptions at Ecopetrol, questioning multi-million dollar contracts and buying an apartment in Bogotá from a person in the sector and for a value well below the commercial value.
Investors, for now, are weathering the storm: The New York company’s shares rose 2.2% this Thursday. This year, the value has risen by almost 25% in New York, while on the Colombian Stock Exchange it has risen by 10%. This is despite the price of Brent crude falling by almost 16% in global markets due to the oversupply set by the powerful cartel of oil nations, OPEC, which is affecting the medium and long-term prospects. This price already affects the company’s profits, which fell by 29.8% in the third quarter of this year (to 2.56 trillion pesos, about $678 million), and accumulated 7.5 trillion pesos ($1,988 million) between January and September, that is, 32% less than it was in the same period in 2024.
In addition, the company has consolidated debt approaching $29 billion, after integrating with an ISA and increasing leverage in recent years, Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating in June this year. Added to this complex landscape are strategic challenges, such as the role played by Colombia’s largest company in the energy transition promoted by Petro and in managing the country’s growing gas deficit. Nam concludes that if the board, faced with this complex picture, realizes that Roa is indispensable and decides to retain him, “it will have to provide a very structured and strong justification.”