In a matter of two hours, the National Electoral Council made three key decisions in its plenary session on September 16, regarding the investigation into the Petro President campaignin which The financial limits established by law would have been violated.
It is worth mentioning that several statements the President Gustavo Petroin which he warned that in said session a “coup d’état“against them, they raised expectations about the vote scheduled on the agenda around the motion that calls for opening a statement of charges for the aforementioned.
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“botched tests“, “violation of presidential immunity“, “money involved so that the case reaches the Accusations Commission and I get out“, were some of the assertions that the head of State launched in recent days, also inviting the people to take to the streets.
In fact, one day before the Plenary Session began, it was confirmed that Álvaro Hernán Prada, one of the magistrates in charge of the investigationhad to leave his family in Colombia due to threats on social media and alleged surveillance by drones.
Magistrates of the National Electoral Council
However, after noon it was confirmed that, as EL TIEMPO had anticipated, The vote on the approval, modification or filing of the proposed charge sheet was postponed until September 30, at 8:00 a.m.. And it is that the Judge Alba Lucia Velasquezof the Historic Pact, was incapacitated and requested that her file be rotated for evaluation before casting her vote.
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Among the evidence collected by Prada and by Benjamín Ortiz, the other investigating magistrate, There are receipts that would prove a clear violation of electoral limits, exceeding 5.3 billion pesos.
The refusal to Baqueuro and Carvajal
Earlier, the reinstatement of the Judge Altus Alejandro Baquero to the CNE. His election was annulled by the Council of State, but the Constitutional Court ordered his reinstatement. However, The judges accepted the thesis of waiting for the notification of the sentence for his reinstatement.
The other point that was discussed was the appeal for annulment and/or clarification on the determination of the Council of State of August 6, which ratified the President Petro’s representative at the CNE, Héctor Carvajal.
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Benjamin Ortiz and Alvaro Hernan Prada.
According to the high court, both the CNE and the House of Representatives’ Accusations Commission are legally authorized to investigate the issue within their jurisdiction. However, Carvajal, who aspires to be nominated by Petro for Attorney General, He claims that the CNE is violating the immunity of the country’s president.
The same way, that the law establishes a period of no more than 30 days to begin this type of investigation and that of the CNE is later.
The CNE decision will not be recognized
However, Carvajal has already announced that he plans to go further. Although he welcomed a statement in which the CNE indicated that presidential immunity would be respected, The lawyer anticipated that any decision taken by the highest electoral body will not be complied with..
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The candidate for the Public Ministry pointed out to various media outlets that the decisions that are adopted “In any entity before a judge, a judicial corporation and even more so in an administrative authority such as the CNE, contrary to the legal-institutional regime and jurisprudence, they do not bind either the judge or the parties, nor do they have binding force or constitute res judicata.“.
National Electoral Council (CNE)
The role of Ricardo Roa Barragan
EL TIEMPO tried to contact Carvajal to ask him about the defense of another of his attorneys, however, he has not responded. Said client is Ricardo Roa Barragán, who was treasurer of the Petro Presidente campaign and currently serves as president of the state oil company Ecopetrol.
Roa’s case is different, since he does not have presidential immunity and, since 2017, Violation of campaign limits is considered a criminal offense.
Ricardo Roa Barragan, President of Ecopetrol
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Without mentioning the president of Ecopetrol, Petro has described the evidence as “clumsy” and insists that payments made later are being classified as campaign expenses. Among others, He has spoken about paying electoral witnesses and celebrating his electoral victory at the Movistar Arena in Bogotá.
However, the report points out that payments to electoral witnesses were recorded in the first round, but not in the second round. In addition, There are opaque accounts in air services and apparent contributions from unauthorized sources. On this last point, the Attorney General’s Office is already making progress with the relevant investigation.
PORTFOLIO
*With information from EL TIEMPO – INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
