The Colombian president, Gustavo Petropointed out this Saturday that the National Electoral Council (CNE) is taking steps towards “a coup d’état” by wanting to investigate him for possible irregularities in the financing of the electoral campaign that led him to the Presidency.
This week, a CNE investigation was revealed, revealed by the journalist Daniel Coronell on W Radio, which concluded that the electoral campaign of Petro In 2022, it violated the spending limits established by law and resorted to prohibited sources of financing.
“Every step taken against the president in the electoral council builds a coup d’état“, Petro estimated on his X account, who added: “Do you complain about Venezuela? In Colombia a coup against the president is moving forward.”
This is because the CNE It is the competent body to investigate parties, campaign managers and candidates, but the president has immunity, so the exclusive competence to investigate criminally and disciplinarily Petro Right now she has it House of Representatives Investigation and Impeachment Committee, which has one open on this matter.
That’s why, Petro He recalled that “the Constitution does not allow a purely administrative and political body such as the electoral council to pave the way for suspending the president from his duties for an investigation into limits over which he had no more jurisdiction than the 30 days after the election”.
However, the CNE He claims that he can investigate both the campaign and the president in the administrative field, as he already did with the campaign of the former presidents. Ivan Duque and Juan Manuel Santos and thereby impose fines or refunds.
The CNE investigation
The research carried out by the CNE directed by the magistrate of the Liberal Party Benjamin Ortiz and the Uribe supporter Alvaro Hernan Democratic Center and that according to the president “has no binding force”concluded that Petro’s campaign exceeded the limits by more than 5.3 billion pesos (1.27 million dollars) and that he also received contributions from legal entities, something explicitly prohibited by electoral law.
In this way, during the first round there was supposedly an overrun of 3.7 billion pesos (888,650 dollars) and there were seven violations, including the failure to report a contribution by 500 million pesos ($120,000) from the main education union, Fecode and another contribution of the same amount from the Democratic Pole party, which is part of the governing coalition.
Among the irregularities appears linked Xavier Vendrella Catalan politician investigated for what happened during the ‘process‘ Catalan and close to Petro, specifically for not having reported the payment to electoral witnesses during the campaign.
Vendrell, who was a councilor of Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), worked on the campaign of Petro as head of the electoral witnesses and campaign strategist, and has been accused of continuing to be linked to the Petro’s Governmenta fact that the president has denied, claiming that there are no current contracts with the former Catalan politician.
During the second round of elections, the limits were also exceeded 1.6 billion pesos ($382,000) and five rapes were allegedly committed.
Among the violations, in addition to the fact that payments to electoral witnesses managed by Vendrell were not reported, the total cost of the rental of the event center would not have been reported either. Movistar Arena in Bogota which was used by Petro to celebrate the results of the second round of elections and which cost 250 million pesos (almost 60,000 dollars) and only 150 million (36,000 dollars) were reported.
As reported by the W Radio from the research of the CNE which has not yet been published, there would also be a lack of reports on private flights of the now president during the campaign to attend proselytizing events.