The Supreme Court of Justice asked the Impeachment Commission of the House of Representatives to investigate President Gustavo Petro. The request of the high court is associated with alleged irregularities in the financing of his campaign in the interparty consultation of the Historical Pact in 2022.
(Read more: Court certifies copies so that Ricardo Roa and Guillermo Jaramillo can be investigated)
One of the focuses is on contracts related to the air transportation of candidates and campaign teams. According to the court, the invoices linked to this item would have been manipulated in order to avoid exceeding the financing limits.
The campaign for the internal consultation of the then pre-candidate Petro reported as expenses to the National Electoral Council (CNE) $8,717 million. In that figure, the air transportation expense of the Ibagué SAS Air Company was included as an obligation pending payment for $ 1,109,017,836.
Now, The high court explained that “The evidence collected in this action indicates that the air transportation of the Ibagué SAS Air Society was supplied only to the internal consultation campaign of the pre-candidate Petro Urrego, which led to the readjustment of the billing to divide into two invoices, one for the Senate campaign and the other for the internal consultation campaign, the concepts that originally corresponded and had been charged to the Petro Campaign client.”
In other words, the accounts for the services, contracted for more than $2,324 million, were apparently divided into two parts: one for $1,215 million and another for $1,109 million. Subsequently, these amounts were presented, respectively, on behalf of the Senate campaign and the presidential consultation.
Supreme Court of Justice
According to the Court, This maneuver would have misled the CNE to recognize the replacement of expenses based on inaccurate information. This is explained because adding the values of the original invoice would exceed “broadly exceeds the spending limit set by the electoral authority”which is $8,758 million.
“The evaluation of the elements of judgment incorporated into this action indicates the existence of falsehoods in the income and expense reports of the Senate campaigns and the internal consultation for the Historical Pact in the 2022 elections, derived from the non-correspondence of the reality of the air transport service contract with the data provided to the National Electoral Council,” indicated the Supreme Court.
Likewise, the entity indicated that “In this action there are elements that suggest that there would be participation of the managerial and administrative level of said campaigns in possible agreements or decisions regarding the attribution and reporting of expenses.”
It should be remembered that the Court’s request is presented one day after the court certified copies to the Attorney General’s Office, the National Electoral Council and the Accusation Commission of the House of Representatives so that the initiation of an investigation can be processed. against the president of Ecopetrol, Ricardo Roa, and the Minister of Health, Guillermo Jaramillo. Also for irregularities in the violation of Petro’s campaign limits.
PORTFOLIO
