{"id":147482,"date":"2026-08-24T11:53:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/public-procurement-supplier-cartel-dismantled\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T11:53:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T15:53:03","slug":"public-procurement-supplier-cartel-dismantled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/national\/public-procurement-supplier-cartel-dismantled\/","title":{"rendered":"Public procurement supplier cartel dismantled"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Network of suppliers that manipulated state tenders dismantled<\/h2>\n\n<p>The Director General of Public Procurement, Carlos Pimentel, confirmed the dismantling of an operational structure identified as a \u201csuppliers&#8217; cartel.\u201d This group, composed of a small circle of individuals, maintained control over dozens of companies to participate in a coordinated manner in state purchasing and contracting processes.<\/p>\n\n<p>During his speech, Pimentel detailed that this network used a business diversification strategy to intervene in tenders for key institutions, such as the Economic Canteens and the National Institute for Student Welfare (INABIE). The official was emphatic in pointing out that a single person or a small group managed to acquire ownership of up to 40 different companies to simulate a competition that, in reality, was flawed.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Modus operandi and pressures<\/h2>\n\n<p>The structure was not only limited to the massive creation of companies, but also implemented intimidation tactics to ensure the awarding of millionaire contracts. According to Pimentel&#8217;s statements, those involved resorted to the following mechanisms:<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Interposition of constant legal appeals to hinder processes.<\/li><li>Filing of unfounded complaints against other competitors.<\/li><li>Use of direct threats to generate fear and ensure their victory in tenders.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>The supplier cartel is nothing more than two or three natural persons who have acquired dozens of companies, perhaps 30 or 40. These practices have been confronted with decisive measures by the authorities to guarantee transparency in public procurement.<\/p><cite>Carlos Pimentel, General Director of Public Procurement<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Research background<\/h2>\n\n<p>The operating scheme of this group had been under scrutiny previously. Previous investigations pointed out that the network concentrated large-scale contracts in institutions such as the Social Plan of the Presidency and the Economic Canteens. Among the irregularities detected at the time, the falsification of sanitary registrations and the systematic use of front men to hide the true ownership of the companies involved stood out.<\/p>\n\n<p>With this action, the agency reaffirms its commitment to cleaning up state procurement processes, ensuring that the necessary measures have been taken to prevent illicit practices from continuing to affect public assets and free competition among state suppliers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Network of suppliers that manipulated state tenders dismantled The Director General of Public Procurement, Carlos Pimentel, confirmed the dismantling of an operational structure identified as a \u201csuppliers&#8217; cartel.\u201d This group, composed of a small circle of individuals, maintained control over dozens of companies to participate in a coordinated manner in state purchasing and contracting processes. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12809],"tags":[6357,7682,13808,14202],"class_list":{"0":"post-147482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national","7":"tag-corruption","8":"tag-poster","9":"tag-public-procurement","10":"tag-suppliers"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}