Colombia’s first left-wing chief says an investigation into his 2022 marketing campaign funds is aimed toward unseating him.
Colombian election officers have voted to launch an investigation into President Gustavo Petro’s spending throughout his historic 2022 marketing campaign.
On Tuesday, a majority of the 10-member Nationwide Electoral Council (CNE) authorized the investigation into Petro and his marketing campaign supervisor, Ricardo Roa.
The investigation includes alleged violations of marketing campaign finance restrictions by Petro and Roa, who at present serves as chief govt of Ecopetrol, Colombia’s majority-state vitality firm.
Petro, who grew to become Colombia’s first left-wing president after successful the 2022 election, rapidly dismissed the investigation as an try and overthrow his president.
“The coup has begun,” Petro stated on social media platform X.
The findings might result in fines, however impeachment of Petro stays a distant prospect.
If the investigation continues, Petro’s case will probably be heard by the Home of Commons Fees Committee. Beneath the Colombian structure, the president should stand trial there.
Petro’s coalition holds a majority on the committee. Colombia has not had a president faraway from workplace by Congress in at the very least 30 years.
Tuesday’s announcement follows a report filed in Might by two members of the election fee alleging that Petro’s presidential marketing campaign exceeded monetary limits by about $1.2 million. Petro has denied the accusations.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the committee listed 12 monetary transactions that authorities say the marketing campaign didn’t disclose.
The assertion additionally accused Petro’s marketing campaign of receiving funds from “prohibited financing sources,” together with labor organizations.
Suspicions surrounding Petro’s actions have grown over the previous yr. In July, his eldest son Nicholas Petro was arrested. He later admitted to prosecutors that he had acquired cash from drug traffickers and used it for his father’s marketing campaign on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.
Nonetheless, Nicholas Petro insisted that his father didn’t know concerning the cash.
The Colombian chief has struggled to implement the sweeping social reforms he promised throughout his marketing campaign whereas additionally being embroiled in different scandals.
In Might, for instance, former members of his administration agreed to cooperate with prosecutors investigating an alleged bribery scheme associated to the acquisition of water tankers.
