The Attorney General’s investigation comes at a time when Gustavo Petro is attempting to pass reforms in Congress
Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office has launched an investigation into alleged illegal funding of President Gustavo Petro’s election campaign. The authority announced the initiation of the investigation in its announcement Twitter profile on Friday (06/09/2023). Here is the full explanation (80 KB, in Spanish).
“Possible responsibilities are being investigated for crimes of financing election campaigns from prohibited sources and violating voting restrictions,” the statement said.
The investigation gains momentum at a time when Petro is trying to pass labor, Social Security and health care reforms that are stalled in Congress.
The corruption scandal began after A Semana magazine published audio recordings of former Colombian ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti alleging illegal donations to Petro’s campaign. The messages would have been relayed to the President’s chief of staff, Laura Sarabia.
Following the backlash, Sarabia and Benedetti resigned from their posts. The audio recording mentions an amount of approximately US$3.5 million (R$17.2 million) allegedly donated to the campaign in an irregular manner.
“The Revista Semana audio recordings have been tampered with. I apologize to President Gustavo Petro and Laura Sarabia for the aggression. The attack is not mine,” wrote Armando Benedetti. on your Twitter profile.
Over the past week, supporters of Gustavo Petro have held large demonstrations in support of the President in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla and Ibagué. The Colombian leader says the corruption allegations are aimed at destabilizing his government, the country’s first leftwing government.