The case will go to the plenary session of the highest electoral authority.
On the morning of this Wednesday, May 8, it was learned that judges Álvaro Hernán Prada and Benjamín Ortiz officially filed the presentation of formulation, imputation and formulation of charges against the presidential campaign of Gustavo Petro Urrego.
This new situation, very delicate, by the way, adds to the whirlwind that entangles the Government of President Gustavo Petro, such as the corruption scandal that the country has been gradually becoming aware of due to the purchase of tank trucks with enormous extra costs to bring water to Guajira, which would complicate senior state officials and legislators, according to complaints from the former director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (Ungrd), Olmedo López, and the deputy director of the same entity, Sneyder Pinilla, who requested The Attorney General’s Office was given the opportunity to provide privileged information and, at the same time, they asked for protection for their lives and those of their families.
Another scandal in the Ungrd, uncovered in these days, refers to the community pots, in Albania, Guajira, contract for $20.4 billion, allegedly diverted for political campaigns, including that of Mayor Nera Robles, of the Mais party, as also from congressmen Martha Peralta, from the Historical Pact, and the conservative, Juan Loreto Gómez.
Faced with all these facts, President Petro said on Tuesday in Barranquilla that a strategy of coup and institutional rupture is being designed. In the case of the tank trucks, he assured: “it was not our guideline, given that we issued the emergency decrees that proposed another model of attention to the emergency and the distribution of water in La Guajira, issued on July 2, 2023 and were declared unenforceable on October 2, 2023 by the Constitutional Court.”
Returning to the formulation of charges against Petro’s presidential campaign, it emerged that judges Prada and Ortiz, of the CNE, presented documentary and accounting evidence that reveals the alleged violation of the campaign limits of the Historical Pact, the document consists of 100 pages.
Apparently, the money contributed to the presidential campaign by the Fecode and Uso unions, as well as the payment to the 35,000 electoral witnesses, at a rate of $60,000 per head, on election day to monitor the votes, were not reported and obviously helped violate the caps. The union leadership did a disservice to its Historic Pact candidate.
Taking into account that the National Electoral Council (CNE) is carrying out an administrative investigation, this would have an impact on the directors of the presidential campaign, among them, Ricardo Roa, current president of Ecopetrol, who acted as manager. Additionally, he has other investigations underway.
What will happen now with this presentation by judges Álvaro Hernán Prada and Benjamín Ortiz? That will be discussed by the nine magistrates that make up this court and answered by the lawyers of President Gustavo Petro and Ricardo Roa.
