BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s Constitutional Courtroom on Thursday stopped an electoral physique from investigating accusations of illicit marketing campaign financing and unreported spending by President Gustavo Petro, delivering a authorized victory to the beleaguered left-wing chief.
The courtroom dominated that solely Congress can examine alleged irregularities within the financing of Petro’s 2022 marketing campaign. Petro has denied any monetary impropriety.
The ruling scraps a probe by the Nationwide Electoral Council into whether or not Petro’s marketing campaign exceeded fundraising limits by about $1.2 million and whether or not it accepted funds from labor organizations, which is banned by Colombian regulation.
The council is an administrative physique that supervises the electoral course of and oversees marketing campaign financing. It might additionally impose administrative sanctions, equivalent to hefty fines towards marketing campaign staffers.
The courtroom ordered the electoral council to refer its investigation to Colombia’s Home of Representatives.
It is unclear whether or not lawmakers will advance the case. Though Petro typically clashes with Congress, lawmakers have by no means eliminated a Colombian president from workplace, even within the face of intense public strain when investigators in 1996 demonstrated then-President Ernesto Samper’s ties to drug cartel financing.
Petro fiercely criticized the electoral council as politically motivated, opening one other entrance in his battles towards the nation’s courts, which have overturned a few of his key decrees and appointments.
The officers on the electoral council deliberate to look at marketing campaign contributions by unions of public faculty lecturers and oil staff, amongst others, citing a dozen monetary transactions Petro’s marketing campaign had allegedly did not report.
On Thursday, Petro applauded the courtroom’s resolution.
“Properly performed to the Constitutional Courtroom,” he posted on social media platform X.
This was simply the newest in a swirl of scandals over the financing of Petro’s marketing campaign.
The Lawyer Normal’s workplace has additionally been investigating Petro’s son Nicolás over allegations that the marketing campaign took funds from felony sources, together with a infamous former drug trafficker.
