The Benedetti scandal continues to preoccupy the government

In the midst of all that noise, the Historic pact He this Tuesday rejected what he called “attempts to destabilize democracy, institutions and the government of change” in the midst of the crisis.

“We are guarantors and defenders of democracy and the separation of powers. We advocate constitutional and rule of law,” the party explained in a statement, asking “the competent authorities to thoroughly, promptly and impartially investigate” the allegations made public in recent days.

In that sense, the Election Observation Mission (MOE) recalled this Tuesday through a report on the revenues and expenses reported by the presidential campaigns with a close of November 24, 2022.

He then indicated that Gustavo Petro’s campaign reported in total $19,477,055,890 in revenue and $28,384,680,001 in expenses, corresponding to the first round. The last digit corresponds to 99% of the cap.

The electoral surveillance entity made the request after some audios were released in which former Colombian ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti stated that about $15 billion had been fed into President Petro’s election campaign on the coast.

Experts consulted by THE ANNOUNCEMENT They explained that if the $15,000 million is shown to have gone into the campaign but not been reported, it is misleading the administrative authority and therefore whoever signs that report would have committed the crime of procedural fraud, which was between 6 and 12 lies. years old. of pity.

“If the money is found to be of illegal origin, we would be guilty of financing election campaigns with banned sources punishing the campaign manager up to 8 years in prison,” the experts said.

In another sense, They pointed out that if the $15 billion came into the campaign, but they were not reported and the ceilings were violated, the crime of violating the spending limits in the campaigns has been committed, which carries a prison sentence of 4 to 8 years.

“If it is found to be money that comes from an illegal act or criminal organization, we are faced with the crime of illicit enrichment of individuals. This would not only call on the campaign manager to respond, but would also establish whether the candidate was aware of or had consented to this income. It carries a maximum sentence of 180 months in prison,” they said.

For his part, the Minister of the Interior, Luis Fernando Velasco, He assured this Tuesday that the government “has nothing to hide” in light of “confusing and contradictory” statements by former Venezuelan ambassador Armando Benedetti, who sparked a political earthquake after audio was leaked threatening to reveal information about the presidential campaign.

Source: El Heraldo

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