Colombia Formally Charges the Man Who Ran Its State Oil Company Until Last Month

Colombia · Energy

A penthouse in Bogotá, a gas project on the Caribbean coast, and a presidential campaign that spent too much.

Ricardo Roa indicted is now a matter of record in two separate criminal proceedings, and the first thing to be clear about is his job title. Roa ran Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state oil company, until 31 July. He left the post three weeks ago. He is the former president of the company, and the charges follow him out of the building.

Ricardo Roa indicted: what the two cases allege

Two cases, filed separately, with different alleged offences.

The first is trafficking in influence by a public servant. Prosecutors say Roa acquired a penthouse in El Chicó, an affluent Bogotá neighbourhood, at a price they describe as unjustifiable against its market value. They connect that purchase to his use of the Ecopetrol presidency to favour a businessman, Juan Guillermo Mancera, in dealings involving Hocol, an Ecopetrol subsidiary — specifically around the Chuchupa–Ballena gas project.

The prosecution’s theory is that Roa asked Hocol’s then president, Luis Enrique Rojas, to generate business opportunities for companies linked to Mancera, and that the favourable terms on the flat were connected to decisions taken inside the Ecopetrol group. The formal accusation hearing in this case was held on 20 August.

The second case concerns electoral offences: alleged breaches of campaign financing limits in Gustavo Petro’s 2022 presidential campaign, which Roa managed.

How he got here

This did not arrive without warning. Roa’s position had been under legal pressure for well over a year — Ecopetrol’s board kept him in place through earlier scrutiny in March, then in July the company announced a leadership reset, with Roa leaving on 30 July and two board members departing.

At the end of July he asked the Attorney General’s office for a plea agreement in the campaign finance investigation, which is a step defendants take when they expect charges rather than dismissal.

A formal written accusation is the stage at which Colombian prosecutors commit to a theory of the case in front of a judge. It is not a conviction, and Roa has not been found guilty of anything.

Why an oil company presidency is a political job in Colombia

Because Ecopetrol is not just a company. It is majority state-owned, it is the largest company in the country by revenue, and its president is appointed through a process that runs through the presidency. The job carries a portfolio of contracts large enough that decisions inside it are political by definition.

That is also why the two cases are connected in the public mind even though they are legally separate. One concerns the company; the other concerns the campaign that produced the government that appointed him.

Ecopetrol itself has continued operating through all of this, and the board reset in July was framed by the company as a governance matter rather than as a response to the investigations.

What happens next in the Colombian courts

After a written accusation, the case moves to a preparatory hearing and then to trial. Colombian criminal proceedings at this level routinely run for years, and both of these involve documentary evidence about contracts and campaign accounts rather than testimony that can be settled quickly.

The plea-agreement route he sought in July, known in Colombia as a principio de oportunidad, is a prosecutorial discretion mechanism rather than a right. Whether it remains available now that formal accusations have been filed is a question for the court.

Two separate cases also means two separate timelines, two benches and two possible outcomes. He could prevail in one and not the other.

Why this matters if you invest in Latin America

Ecopetrol is one of the most widely held Latin American energy names, listed in Bogotá and with American depositary receipts in New York. Governance questions at the top of a state oil company are priced by international investors as country risk rather than as company risk.

The wider pattern is familiar across the region: state energy champions whose leadership changes with the government, and whose former executives face prosecution after it. Petrobras went through a version of this a decade ago and is still living with the institutional consequences.

For Colombia specifically, the timing matters. The country goes to the polls in 2026, and a case that touches the financing of the current president’s campaign will be litigated politically as well as legally.

None of that tells you whether Roa did what prosecutors allege. It tells you why the answer will take a long time to arrive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: Focus Noticias — Roa to be accused of trafficking in influence over the flat and the Hocol business; TDJ Noticias — the former Ecopetrol president faces new judicial proceedings

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