On October 9 the Supreme Court granted provisional release, because the legal time limit had expired, to former congressmen Iván Name and Andrés Calle, defendants in the UNGRD case (Noticias RCN, Vanguardia, Cambio, Blu Radio, Asuntos Legales). It ordered release papers issued, subject to bail of ten monthly minimum wages or a surety policy and a signed undertaking. The limit was 12 months because evidence was being taken abroad, the testimony of Carlos Ramón González, who has asylum in Nicaragua. The indictment became final on October 7, 2025. In July the Chamber had denied the request. It does not rule on their guilt.
The UNGRD case is one of the biggest corruption scandals of the previous Government. That two defendants go free because of an expired deadline, and not because of a ruling on the facts, reopens the debate over the slowness of justice and procedural guarantees.
It changes nothing in your daily life, but it shows how procedural deadlines can decide whether a person awaits trial in freedom, even in high-profile corruption cases.
For their defenders, release when the legal time limit expires is a basic legal guarantee: no one should wait indefinitely for a trial.
For those demanding punishment for corruption, the release feeds the perception of impunity and pushes for reforms that speed up proceedings.
The decision is technical, not on the merits. What matters more is the trial calendar, the pending testimony abroad and whether the Prosecutor’s Office asks for measures to prevent flight. We have to see whether the two meet the conditions of their release.
Noticias RCN, Vanguardia, Cambio, Blu Radio, Asuntos Legales (Oct. 9, 2026)
Supreme Court frees former congressmen Iván Name and Andrés Calle after the legal time limit expired in the UNGRD case
The ruling does not acquit them or close the case. They must post bail of ten monthly minimum wages or present a surety policy, and sign an undertaking.
The Supreme Court’s Special Chamber of First Instance ordered release papers issued for Iván Name and Andrés Calle, who were held in La Picota prison in Bogotá, because the legal time limit had expired, according to Noticias RCN, Vanguardia, Cambio, Blu Radio and Asuntos Legales. Their freedom still depends on conditions: each must post bail of ten monthly minimum wages or present a surety policy, and sign an undertaking. Both are defendants in the scandal over diverted contracts at the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).
The Court applied a twelve-month limit, not six, because evidence abroad had been ordered in the case: an expanded testimony from Carlos Ramón González, who has asylum in Nicaragua. The indictment became final on October 7, 2025, and the limit ran out on October 7, 2026. The defense teams had failed before: in July the Chamber denied the same request. The ruling is not an acquittal, and the trial continues.