Economy & Business - June 2025

COLOMBIA | Ecopetrol president investigated. Colombia’s inspector general’s office opened a disciplinary investigation into Ricardo Roa, the president of state oil company Ecopetrol, on 4 June. The investigation relates to a possible conflict of interest concerning Roa’s purchase, before he became Ecopetrol’s president, of an apartment from the Colombian firm Princeton International Holdings, whose legal representative at the time was Serafino Iacono, a Venezuelan oil and mining investor. The inspector general’s office said that this could constitute “a conflict of interest, given [subsequent] actions and decisions taken by [Ecopetrol] while conducting its regular business which would involve the interests of firms, businesses or societies that have direct or indirect links” with Iacono. The inspector general’s office said that it had asked Ecopetrol to clarify whether Roa declared any conflicts of interest upon being appointed as the company’s president in April 2023, and whether his declaration has been periodically updated since then. A close ally of President Gustavo Petro, Roa has previously been accused of involvement in corruption regarding a solar power contract and of illegal campaign financing during Petro’s 2022 election campaign, in which Roa played a leading role.

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