2023-08-05 00:08:02
BOGOTÁ (AP) — About to complete his first year in office in Colombia, President Gustavo Petro is facing one of his most serious crises in the face of public opinion, political sectors and the authorities, following his son, Nicolás Petro, told the Attorney General’s Office that money of dubious origin had entered his father’s electoral campaign in 2022.
The revelation caused a strong political upheaval in the country and divided the parties between those who support the president, those who ask that the country’s institutionality be defended and the respective investigations be carried out, and those who have asked for his resignation following knowing these accusations. .
The head of state appointed a lawyer on Friday to represent him in the investigation processes that might be opened once morest him. His son promised the judicial authorities to deliver documentary evidence.
AP explains the possible judicial and political repercussions that the Colombian president might face.
WHY DID PETRO’S SON SIGNAL YOUR PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN?
Nicolás Petro, the eldest son of President Gustavo Petro, is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office for the crimes of illicit enrichment and money laundering, following his ex-wife pointed out that he had received irregular money for his father’s presidential campaign and to have stayed with them.
According to the prosecution’s accusation, Nicolás Petro received money from Samuel Santander Lopesierra, convicted and extradited to the United States for drug trafficking, and from Gabriel Hilsaca, son of Alfonso the ‘Turk’ Hilsaca. The latter prosecuted in Colombia for homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The son of the Colombian president agreed to collaborate with the authorities and last Thursday the prosecutor in charge of the case, Mario Andrés Burgos, assured that Nicolás Petro reported that he would provide evidence that part of the money with which he illegally increased his assets went to the presidential campaign of today’s president of Colombia.
HOW DID PRESIDENT PETRO REACT?
The Colombian president issued a statement on Friday to designate a lawyer to represent him and stated that he receives “with pain, on a personal level, the information regarding alleged irregularities in the development of the presidential campaign” on the Atlantic Coast, a place where His son, Nicolás Petro, has moved politically.
He also said that “no one can be above the law and that justice must be applied impartially.” All this, according to President Petro, respecting due process and granting all the guarantees of the case.
“It will be the judges in their different powers who legally define what corresponds,” said the head of state.
WHAT EVIDENCE WILL PETRO’S SON PRESENT?
By collaborating with justice, Nicolás Petro will have to accept the charges once morest him for illicit enrichment and money laundering and, depending on the relevance of the information he provides, he might have his sentence reduced. He has been detained since Saturday.
Until now, Petro Jr. has said that he might provide audio files and documents that would prove that part of the money he received was destined for his father’s presidential campaign.
However, this information has not yet been revealed, nor have the terms of the agreement between the Attorney General’s Office and Nicolás Petro. This document, in any case, must be endorsed by a judge for it to be valid.
CAN THE PRESIDENT BE ACCUSED OF ANY CRIME?
The alleged receipt of money of dubious origin in President Petro’s campaign already has consequences in the Congress of the Republic, which is, constitutionally, the only one that can develop a political trial once morest a president.
In the Accusation Commission of the House of Representatives, there are already two complaints once morest the head of state for these events.
The president of that commission, Wadith Manzur, reported on Friday that there is a previous investigation into the president and that three congressmen are collecting information on the complaints filed.
It is not yet known if there will be an indictment once morest President Petro and, if this happens, what crimes might be charged once morest him.
COULD HE BE REMOVED?
For the head of state to be removed from office, a political trial must be held in Congress and a criminal proceeding in the Supreme Court of Justice. In that case,
If the Commission of Accusations of the Chamber of Representatives determines that there are elements to accuse President Petro, it must take the case before the plenary of the House of Representatives and this, in turn, before the plenary of the Senate of the Republic. In that last instance, the fate of the head of state would be defined.
The former national registrar and expert lawyer in electoral law, Alfonso Portela, explained that the maximum sanction that the Congress of the Republic might impose on Petro is to declare his “undignity” and withdraw the presidential jurisdiction, before which the president must separate from his position. . At the same time, Congress would have to transfer the case to the Supreme Court of Justice, where criminal proceedings would begin once morest him.
If he is found guilty before the Supreme Court, the figure of dismissal would enter.
IS THERE ANY PRECEDENT OF A PRESIDENT REMOVED OR SENTENCED?
In the history of Colombia, a sitting president has never been removed.
The closest precedent is that of then-president Ernesto Samper, who was accused in 1995 of receiving six million dollars from a drug cartel in the southwestern part of the country.
Although the investigations advanced and the Congress followed a process, Samper was acquitted by the Legislature.
COULD PETRO’S ELECTION BE ANNULLED?
According to the expert lawyer in electoral matters Hollman Ibáñez, the election of President Petro might not be annulled. The norm that includes the cases to annul the vote contemplates eight causes, but none of them is for violation of the ceilings of electoral campaign contributions.
It is the National Electoral Council that must determine if there was a violation of the rules on electoral financing.
Additionally, according to Ibáñez, there is a term to request an annulment: 30 days following the election is declared. The voting in which Petro was the winner was held on June 23 of last year.
The causes to annul a popular election in Colombia are related to having unduly influenced in favor of the chosen candidate or to the simultaneous militancy in two different political forces at the time of the election.
WHAT CRIMINAL LIABILITY COULD THE CAMPAIGN FACE?
The National Electoral Council is the body in charge of reviewing and supervising campaign accounts and investigating alleged irregularities. The CNE sets the spending ceilings.
There is already a process open before the electoral rector on the campaign of President Petro, following the former ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, mentioned some alleged irregularities in some audios that came to light. Benedetti was one of the men closest to the current head of state during the campaign.
In this case, the electoral tribunal would basically investigate the possible violation of ceilings in the financing of the presidential campaign.
In the event that the electoral court investigates the entry into Petro’s campaign of the resources of dubious origin that Nicolás Petro alleges, the sanctions that it might impose are pecuniary, that is, fines, since it is an administrative entity, he clarified. the lawyer Ibanez.
The Attorney General’s Office, for its part, might have criminal sanctions once morest the campaign manager and other directors of the campaign, qualifies Portela, also a lawyer, depending on the information that Nicolás Petro finally delivers to the authorities.
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