The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation disqualified for 12 years José Roberto Prieto Uribe, manager of the campaign of Juan Manuel Santos in 2014 in the presidential elections, for committing falsehood in the report of income and expenses presented to the National Electoral Council (CNE). In addition to the disbarment, he was fined $50.5 million.
In the report presented to the CNE, Prieto assured that the campaign had not received contributions or donations from individuals, nor aid in kind, reflecting an accounting item with a zero value. However, after an exhaustive investigation, the Attorney General’s Office was able to demonstrate that the campaign received a donation in kind from the Brazilian construction company Norberto Odebretch SA Sucursal Colombia. Said donation consisted of the contracting of electoral opinion studies for a value of one million dollars ($1,000,000) through the firm Paddington Ventures Limited Corp.
The opinion surveys, carried out over six months in 2014, aimed to monitor the evolution of the image and public perception of potential Colombian presidential candidates. The Attorney General’s Office was able to support this information with statements provided by the Odebretch representative, Eleuberto Martorelli, who stated that the company understood that they were being requested by the re-election campaign of President Juan Manuel Santos to finance an opinion study.
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Although Martorelli was not sure of the final destination of the studies, the Attorney General’s Office managed to demonstrate, through a detailed analysis of the documents and the results obtained, that they were specifically aimed at the campaign of Juan Manuel Santos for his re-election in the period 2014-2018. .
In the first instance ruling, the Attorney General’s Office concluded that the opinion polls represented a donation in kind that provided information on the electoral scenario at that time. In addition, it was established that the report signed by José Roberto Prieto Uribe on June 25, 2014, in his capacity as campaign manager, contained a falsehood by indicating that no contributions or donations had been received from individuals, nor valued aid in kind. commercially.