Gustavo Petro’s presidential campaign is facing an investigation by the National Electoral Council (CNE), where charges have been brought against him for alleged irregularities in financing.
The evidence presented by magistrates Álvaro Hernán Prada and Benjamín Ortiz has been described as conclusive; one of which would be the ultimate proof that would confirm that Petro’s campaign in 2022 violated the limits set by law.
This is the electronic invoice for 356 million pesos of the payment for advertising for the first presidential round that the then manager Ricardo Roa made to Caracol Television and was not reported to the electoral authorities. Only with that figure reported to the Dian would the campaign limits set by the CNE be exceeded.
In the indictment, it is mentioned that the alleged failure to report the electronic invoice for electoral propaganda.
“For the reasons set forth above, in accordance with the electoral propaganda services contracted and issued by the media outlet Caracol TV SA between May 2 and 23, 2022 in favor of citizen Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, the Court determined that electronic invoice CI 8136 issued on May 31, 2022, belongs to the activities of the first round presidential campaign, an economic fact that amounted to the sum of three hundred fifty-six million one hundred two thousand eight hundred seventy-two pesos ($ 356,102,872) and that was omitted to be reported in the income and expense reports thereof,” the indictment states.
In the first round, Petro was 28 million pesos away from exceeding the electoral limits, while in the second, he was 13 million. How can Petro’s defense argue with this evidence if the Dian itself has already confirmed the payment, due to the electronic invoice?
Another compelling piece of evidence is the bank statements of the company in charge of providing the training and coordination services for electoral witnesses worth 202 million pesos, for technological services, platform security and training between May 9 and 20, 2022.
However, WEEK He learned that Petro charged the State in the 2018 elections, when he lost to Iván Duque, for the expenses that his electoral campaign had for electoral witnesses. In the first round, the current president was recognized for 235 million pesos and in the second, 1,565 million pesos for payment of electoral witnesses. In that order of ideas, it is not understood why until seven years ago the leader of the Historic Pact recognized that the payment of electoral witnesses corresponded to campaign expenses, and now, for convenience, it says the opposite.
As if that were not enough, in the 2022 Senate campaign, the Historic Pact coalition charged the State 5.746 million pesos for logistics and payment to electoral witnesses, which have already been paid.
