In a presidential speech, Gustavo Petro defended himself against each of the accusations made against him by the National Electoral Council. Photo: Presidency
A political storm has been unleashed in Colombia after the judges of the National Electoral Council (CNE), with seven votes in favor and two against, decided to open investigate and file charges against the campaign of the Historic Pact coalition, headed by the current president of the Republic, Gustavo Petro Urrego.
The CNE would have sufficient evidentiary material to demonstrate the alleged violation of the electoral campaign financing regime. According to what was revealed by the entity, the permitted limits would have been exceeded by more than $5,355 million pesos.
After the announcement, President Petro, through a presidential speech, tried to distort each of the pieces of evidence taught by the CNE.
Contributions from Fecode and USO
Given the contribution made by the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (Fecode) for an amount of 500 million pesos, in the first round; and for the Workers’ Union Union (USO), which gave 379 million, secondly, he said that these were not contributions to his electoral campaign, but rather donations to the Colombia Humana party.
“The alleged contributions from the USO and Fecode were not to my campaign but to the Colombia Humana party, just as contributors and businessmen did to the Democratic Center party in Iván Duque’s 2018 campaign and which, this same organization, the CNE acquitted on October 28, 2021,” he added.
Payment to electoral witnesses
Against the assumptions payments made to electoral witnesses, which totaled $1,108 million in the two electoral rounds, clarified that these are outside the electoral campaign calendar.
“They do not correspond to campaign expenses. The first presidential round was until the opening of the polls on May 29, 2022 and the second presidential round until the opening of the polls on June 19, 2022. The counting of the votes takes place after the elections have closed,” he added.
Income and expenses from air tickets
Regarding the income and expenses of air tickets that, between the first and second round, amounted to more than $2,212 million pesos, he assured that, although they were justified, the magistrates “did not know” them.
“The CNE magistrates confuse and misinterpret the flight permits that were not necessarily used by the campaign with the flights actually carried out. “All the invoices submitted by the campaign to the DIAN correspond to the services provided by the services of the air transport company SADI, but they were unaware of them,” the president explained.
Propaganda electoral
When referring to the alleged omission of more than 309 million that would have been used in electoral propaganda, President Petro assured that all expenses were reported in a timely manner and under the respective regulations.
“This was certified by the external audit hired by the CNE itself, which certified, 30 days after the campaign, the veracity of all the accounts we presented,” he assured.
Celebration at the Movistar Arena
The payment of 100 million pesos to the Movistar Arena, for the celebration of the triumph of the Historic Pact, is also part of the CNE’s evidentiary material since, according to the magistrates, it would not have been reported either. Petro said that this was not necessary, since the electoral campaign calendar had already ended.
“The event of our electoral victory held on June 19 at Movistar, after the elections, did indeed have some expenses. Only this event was no longer part of the campaign period, “This is what the law establishes,” he clarified.
Ask for evidence to be shown
After clarifying point by point, the president Petro requested the Investigation and Accusation Commission of the House of Representatives to publish the 25 testimonial evidence, the 34 documentaries and the results of the three judicial inspections that were carried out around the financing of his electoral campaign.
“The charges made by the National Electoral Council are unfounded and if my guarantees had been respected, citizens would know that my actions were not only totally honest, but that “I am facing an administrative authority captured by the opposition that seeks, at all costs, to call into question my integrity,” he denounced while once again calling for social mobilization.
Despite this, the CNE’s decision has already been made and during these 15 days those investigated, among them, the current president of Ecopetrol, Ricardo Roa (then campaign manager); María Lucy Soto Caro and Luci Mogollón, treasurers; and Juan Carlos Lemus Gómez, auditor; as well as President Petro, They must prepare their first defense, then the trial will continue with the evidentiary phase and end with the closing arguments.
2024-10-09 03:38:00
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