An investigation for illegal campaign financing has been opened against Colombian President Ivan Duque, suspected of having received a donation of $ 300,000 from a Venezuelan tycoon, the National Electoral Council of Colombia announced Tuesday (August 11th).
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The authority said in a statement to have " opened a preliminary investigation " against the right-wing president and his party of the Democratic Center (CD) for " alleged violation of the electoral rules on the financing of electoral campaigns ". The investigation against President Duque, elected in 2018 as head of Colombia for a four-year term, was launched on the basis of conversations intercepted by the prosecutor's office.
These conversations involve Nubia Martinez, director of the Democratic Center and a former collaborator of ex-right-wing president Alvaro Uribe (himself under house arrest in another case), as well as a drug trafficker allegedly murdered in Brazil in 2019. recordings, " there are reports of alleged economic support from Venezuelan businessman Oswaldo Cisneros for an amount of $ 300,000 ," said the National Electoral Council (CNE). However, Colombian law prohibits funding from foreign nationals for electoral campaigns.
In an open letter, the Democratic Center assured that " businessman Oswaldo Cisneros had not provided any financial support " for the campaign. However, he acknowledged a donation of 700 million Colombian pesos (approximately $ 185,000) from the company CNE Oil & Gas. The latter is the Colombian subsidiary of the multinational Canacol Energy. According to the company's website, Oswaldo Cisneros is on the company's board of directors.
Ivan Duque won the 2018 presidential election with 54% of the vote against his left-wing opponent, the senator and former guerrilla Gustavo Petro. In March, the Supreme Court announced the opening of an investigation against former President Uribe for his alleged involvement in a vote-buying case in favor of his dolphin Ivan Duque.