Details of Caracol’s advertising invoice which would indicate a possible breach of limits in the Petro campaign

2024-09-01 14:45:05

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An advertising invoice would indicate that it could violations of funding limits allowed by law in the first round campaign of President Gustavo Petro now, because it would not have been properly reported to the National Electoral Council (CNE).

As the journalist Daniel Coronell revealed this Sunday in his usual opinion column in Cambio, the electronic invoice, paid to Caracol Televisión for advertising services, was reported two days after the elections of May 29, 2022, that is, the May 31 and is registered in Dian for $356,102,872. The record shows that the buyer It was Ricardo Roa Barragán, Petro’s campaign manager and president of Eipetrol today.

In context: The receipt of Caracol Televisión advertisements puts Petro on the ropes in the CNE investigation

What Coronell reveals is that that invoice is not properly reported to the CNE in the accounting data of the campaign, which recorded 28,384 million pesos as the expenses of the first round, 152 million below the approved limit. However, if the ad order which, according to the report, was on air during the month of May 2022 is entered correctly, the accounts would exceed the limit.

he The ceiling of the costs to be invested in the election campaign by the candidates for the Presidency of the Republic in 2022 was $28,536,520,492 for the first round, ie and for the second presidential term, it was $13,347,457,427.

It is worth clarifying that this is not the first alleged inconsistency reported in today’s head of state campaign accounts. Indeed, the The National Electoral Council (NEC) An investigation is underway into alleged irregularities in the finance and report income and expenses against the inter-party consultation and presidential campaigns of the first and second round of the year 2022 of the Coalition of the Historic Agreement.

Already in May, the CNE, in the presentation to confirm the request for the statement of objections Gustavo Petro and his former campaign manager, Ricardo Roa, calculated that during the ‘Petro Presidente 2022’ campaignspending limits allowed by law would be exceeded by more than $5.3 billion pesos.

It is estimated that $3,709 million pesos were spent in the first presidential round than was allowed, and in the second round the limits were exceeded with $1,646 million pesos.

Among the facts investigated by the CNE are the the reported accounts of the Air Association of Ibagué (SADI), where President Petro was transported while he is a candidate for president. The body investigates the contributions to SADI for 4,000 million pesos and the Workers Union (USO) with the campaign for 600 million, as well as the 500 million that Fecode contributed to Colombia Humana.

Furthermore, the CNE shows that The loan made by the Alternative Democratic Pole for 500 million pesos was not reported nor did they report the payment of 931 million pesos to election witnesses.

Ad revenue discrepancies are nothing new. A week ago, as already published by EL COLOMBIANO, sources within the CNE consulted by this newspaper confirmed that there could be a wide legal debate about all the previous events, but that about 367 million on election advertising with Caracol Televisión, no. .

This is because it is clear that this payment was not reported to the campaign accounts, ie But in the file there is the document with the invoice from Caracol that actually broadcast the seconds of the commercial campaign in its programs. “Everything can be discussed legally, but how are you going to reject that bill if it’s there. “The bill is there,” explained a source to EL COLOMIANO, who preferred to remain confidential.

What Coronell now reveals is that although a source from the campaign says that Caracol Televisión’s invoice is being reported on a list of pending payment obligations delivered to the CNE, “the invoice has different values ​​than its supposed report to the Council National Elections”, therefore. , the journalist warns, they would not be the same. “Although the CI 8136 invoice has a value of $356,102,872, the outstanding obligation in line 17 is $367,755,972,” wrote Coronell.

Another inconsistency found by the journalist is that “The report that the campaign source intends to present as expenses for the first round was filed on November 18, 2022 as part of the expenses of the second round. In the first round, it’s not visible.” Although the source of his campaign indicated that there may have been double reporting on the Cuentas Claras platform and that “CNE discounted this value in the audit of the recognition of campaign expenses in the second round,” the director of Canal Caracol ruled out the possibility. your double payment.

Also read: Clear passage to the CNE to continue investigating the finances of the Petro Presidente campaign

Breaching funding limits in a political campaign is a crime, which could imply the invalidation of election results if irregularities are confirmed. However, After learning the decision of the CNE, Gustavo Petro attacked the entity, arguing that attempted “coup d’état.”