BOGOTA.- The Impeachment Commission of the House of Representatives of the Congress of Colombia decided to open a investigation prior against the president Gustavo Petro for alleged illegal financing of his campaign presidential.
The decision was made after analyzing copies provided by the Attorney General’s Office of the hearing held with the son of President Nicolás Petro Burgos, on August 2, 2023, who is being investigated for money laundering and illicit enrichment for receiving funds from the drug trafficking to finance his electoral campaign in the Department of Atlántico.
Along with the order to initiate the preliminary investigation, the Investigation and Accusations Commission also ordered a series of tests to be carried out “with the purpose of clarifying the facts,” according to a statement, reported Infobae.
Once the Prosecutor’s Office formulated the indictment against Petro’s son, it sent the evidence to the Accusations Commission of the House of Representatives because It is suspected of “the alleged materialization of criminal conduct, such as the entry of apparently irregular money into the presidential campaign of Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego.”
The Prosecutor’s Office cannot investigate the head of state due to its jurisdiction, so the Investigation and Accusation Commission of the House of Representatives must do so, which must deepen the investigation into the funds that Petro Burgos received from former drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra, known like “The Marlboro Man”, and if these ended up in the presidential campaign accounts,
But, more than Lopesierra’s resources, which according to Petro’s son did not reach his father’s campaign, what may complicate the president is the alleged financing that Euclides Torres (head of the so-called Torres Clan) made to the presidential campaign. The president’s son assured that the then candidate knew about those movements, elcolombiano.com reported.
What the Investigation and Accusation Commission of the House of Representatives must verify is whether these monies were not reported to the National Electoral Council or whether they exceeded the financing limits allowed by law. In that case, Petro’s campaign could having committed crimes.
The controversial investigation ordered by the Colombian Attorney General’s Office of the president’s son accused of illicit enrichment for receiving funds from drug trafficking to finance the electoral campaign is perhaps the biggest scandal to touch the Head of State, so far.
During the investigation, Day Vásquez, Nicolás Petro’s ex-wife, was accused of acting as administrator of the funds that were received. The Prosecutor’s Office also accuses Vásquez of committing crimes of money laundering and violation of personal data.
Nicolás Petro Burgos is accused of having received financing for his 2022 electoral campaign from drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra and businessman Alfonso Hilsaca, who previously denied the accusations against him.
The prosecutor detailed that a total of 1,053 million pesos were found, which constitute an “unjustified increase in assets.” According to Petro Burgos, this money does not come from his work, but from clandestine income of money from 2021 to the end of 2022.
Source: With information from Infobae / El Colombiano
