The mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, through his lawyer Alfonso Portela Herrán, asked the National Electoral Council, CNE, for a thorough review of the accounts and expenses incurred by the committee promoting the recall “The pact for Medellín will save you, because we love you we are going to get you back.”
The petition includes the review of expenses such as the costs of editing a video about the recall published on Juan Giraldo’s Instagram account on October 31, the expenses of the personnel for the enlistment and audit of the signatures, the expenses in technological elements for the digitization of signatures (scanner and computers) and if the Registrar’s Office, in addition to the physical forms, was given some magnetic element.
The petition also includes the review of another video published by the same previous account on October 20, 2021, in which while a member of the recall committee speaks on the subject, banners with propaganda and personnel with biosafety clothing can be seen in the background. About these, the proxy Portela It requests that the expenses of both concepts be reviewed and if said biosafety elements were adjusted to the requirements of the moment.
Quintero also requests the review of another video in the same account of Juan Giraldo dated August 1, 2021 in which the public is asked to sign the revocation. According to the arguments of the Mayor’s attorney, the images show people with t-shirts alluding to the recall, as well as banners on the subject.
The CNE is requested review “the collection locations and dates, which are published in the same profile in order to identify if and logistics expenses were reported”.
Finally, Portela asks that the CNE Inform you if in the accounts presented by the promoting committee there is evidence of an item in relation to fees in money or in kind for accompaniment and legal advice, “the foregoing because the law requires that they be listed in the account book of any revocation process.”
The Mayor’s attorney ends by arguing that said request is made “in order to exercise the right to defense that assists my principal and to comply with due process.”
Let us remember that this week, an order from a CNE unit stopped the review of the accounts of the recall process, which at first was understood as a brake on the recall process itself, which was later clarified by the promoters of this instance. of participation.
The response of the promoting committee
We spoke with Julio González Villa about Quintero’s requests to the CNE. “The mayor has nowhere to hang on. The process of collecting signatures was as simple as there was, pure volunteers. Some who settled in the El Tesoro shopping center and others who went to the neighborhoods and went door to door asking people. In the collection process, episodes such as people in groups walking through the streets collecting signatures en masse never occurred,” he said.
When questioned about the role of the lawyer Hollman Ibáñez and the firm of the lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, González said that the revocation does not have any lawyer hired and that it has never been linked to any office nor has any contract been signed.
In round calculations, He says that the committee ended up investing between 198 and 200 million pesos in the collection, but that the limits established by law were never violated.
Regarding the CNE process, González said that when the committee learned that the body had opened a preliminary investigation, they sent accounting certifications and communications, proving that the accounts were in order. In turn, he assures that Judge Abreo did not process anything and only a year later, when the Registry validated the signatures and the task of certifying the accounts fell to the CNE, the issue revived.
According to him, the CNE would never have completed stages in the process, such as the formulation of charges, and he believes that there is no indication, not even the letter published by Mayor Quintero, that shows that they violated the caps or had inconsistencies in their financial statements.