The investigation carried out by the Supreme Court of Justice against the current ambassador of Colombia in Venezuela, Armando Benedetti Villaneda – for alleged improper interests in the conclusion of contracts and influence peddling – will pass into the hands of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, after that the highest court lose its jurisdiction to take the case, due to the ‘special jurisdiction’ enjoyed by employees of the executive branch.
This is how the Investigation Chamber managed to determine it, after receiving, in February, an annulment appeal from the former senator, in which he requested the closure of his investigation, after leaving Congress.
Benedetti and his then adviser in the Government of Juan Manuel Santos, Elsy Mireya Pinzón, were accused of having exerted “undue influence” in the award of a contract, which ended up being entered into between Fonade and the company Certicámaras SA, the former (1) August 2017. According to Jorge Iván Henao, manager of Fonade’s Territorial Development Unit between 2016 and 2017.
When he turned himself in to the authorities in August 2018, he signed a principle of opportunity, accepted charges and, with his testimony, and some other evidence, peppered the ambassador, his former adviser and four other people. Among his revelations, he said that he had met Benedetti in 2016 and held a small meeting in which the then president of the government party would have told him that he had a “good” company and asked him to find out how “he could be helped” from Fonade. .
Henao, whose principle of opportunity was renewed on August 3, 2022, was released because the time of the preventive detention measure had expired. However, since then, he has continued to collaborate with the investigation, providing all the information he knows about the case.
“We are in charge of the defense (of Benedetti) in court, for this reason, using a petition for annulment, we will cause a unified decision to be adopted. Let the court investigate or the Prosecutor’s Office investigate,” said the lawyer Mauricio Pava, who represents the ambassador.
And he added: “The sending of some cases to the prosecution has not been at the request of the defense, it was at the initiative of the court. The ambassador has always appeared where the court determines”, in an interview with W Radio in February.
In July 2022, the Supreme Court of Justice, from the office of magistrate Cristina Lombana, issued the summons for Armando Benedetti to appear before the courts. “After opening an investigation against him, the Supreme Court of Justice has decided to link Senator Armando Benedetti to criminal proceedings for alleged improper interests in contracts and influence peddling, related to Fonade events,” said the high court.
However, since he came to office, Benedetti had implied that he would not attend his summons before the magistrate, because he was carrying out his diplomatic work before the Nicolás Maduro regime, with the consent of the national government.
The request of the Colombian ambassador in Venezuela came just eight days after he had to appear before the high court to testify about the events that have been reported to him for some time. In it, he argued that, since he is now a member of the Executive, by assuming a diplomatic role, such as representing the country abroad, the Supreme Court should close the investigation against him, or refer it to the Prosecutor’s Office. Therefore, the investigation will remain in the hands of the latter and he will only reopen a trial in the highest court, in case he is accused. with Infobae