Colombia made $1.2B available for possible slush funds
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Loading... - Adella Rodriguez
- 11 May 2022
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Colombia’s constitutional court ordered the government to recover more than $1.2 billion (COP5 trillion) that was granted to municipalities and private contractors ahead of the elections.
The court order is a major blow for Duque whose congressional coalition in November illegally suspended legislation that is meant to prevent election fraud.
The government coalition suspended key elements of the so-called Guarantees Law that bans the granting of government contracts before and after elections
The lawmakers amended the electoral law as part of the government’s 2022 budget, which is illegal.
Duque signed off on the budget despite a court order that barred the president from suspending the key election fraud legislation.
A judge can’t tell a president what to object and what not.
Duque ignores court and opens door for fraud in Colombia’s elections
Slush funds to stimulate economy?
The Guarantees Law seeks to prevent the use of public funds to finance the campaigns of politicians close to the government and its previous campaign sponsors.
The president suspended the electoral guarantees, claiming that they were impeding Colombia’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2020.
The amendment of the Guarantees Law also allowed state institution to grant more than 3,800 illegal contracts with a total value of of $1.2 billion to possible slush funds, Noticias Uno reported on Sunday.
This is a predominantly fraudulent congress that promoted the reform of the Law of Guarantees knowing that it was unconstitutional in order to distribute five billion pesos in marmalade in the middle of the electoral period in agreement with the President of the Republic. This is what academics call systemic corruption.
Court strikes back hard
The Constitutional Court struck down the illegal suspension, which legal experts and opposition politicians had expected for months.
What nobody could expect was that the court also declared every contracts granted after the illegal amendment of the Guarantees Law null and void.
To make it even worse, the court ordered the government to recover every penny given as an advance to the private contractors.
Only private contractors and municipal governments that can prove they have completed the projects agreed with the government will be left off the hook.
All other illegally transferred funds must be returned, which would be a major problem for those who spent the money on illegal campaigning ahead of the March 13 congressional elections.
Former government accountability chief Juan Gabriel Duque told Noticias Uno that the ruling would also mean trouble for those who haven’t finished projects they started with the illegal funds.
Colombia’s top illegal spenders
The security forces were the biggest spenders of illegal funds, granting three contracts worth a total $232 million (COP940 billion) on what could be slush funds.
The military was followed by Interior Minister Daniel Palacios, who last week promised the mayors of 17 municipalities $308,000 (COP1.3 billion) each, allegedly for parks that would improve public security.
If the ministry has already transferred the funds, the mayors will simply have to send back the money. Read More...
