Colombia Fines Uber For Obstructing a Regulatory Visit

Wall Street learned this week that Colombia’s commerce regulator said it would fine Uber over $629,000 for obstructing a regulatory visit back in 2017.

The use of Uber’s service is illegal yet it is widely in service. While Colombia has no specific regulations for transport services, it said it would suspend for 25 years the licenses of drivers caught working for the platform.

The country’s Superintendency of Industry and Commerce has given the fine which says Uber urges employees not to give information to regulators and to block access to company computers. Those policies were implemented during the October 2017 visit according to the regulator.

“The company presented a disrespectful and obstructive attitude in the face of different information requirements on the part of officials,” the regulator stated.

Three staffers of the company, a manager and two legal staffers, are also cited in the fine and each one is fined between $1,469 and $7,344.

The staffers “collaborated and executed the obstruction of the mentioned administrative visit and the incompletion of the orders and instructions imparted by the Superintendency,” the statement said.

Uber commented that it was not ofifcially notified about the fine but it would examine it once it has been.

“It is also proven that these people gave evasive and incomplete declarations about their roles and functions inside the company, and about their knowledge of the corporate structure of Uber Colombia,” the statement added.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) and have not been compensated for this article.