10:29 AM
With a request from the Attorney General’s Office to the Council of State not to agree to the loss of investiture for 10 congressmen sued for making donations to the cow that was designed to finish the 4G roads in Antioquia, the hearing of the case progresses from 9:00 am this Wednesday, June 19.
Lawyer Carlos Mario Patiño, plaintiff in the case, reiterated the request to the magistrates to decree the loss of investiture to the senators and representatives to the Chamber Miguel Uribe, Paloma Valencia, Esteban Quintero, Andrés Guerra, Paola Holguín, María Fernanda Cabal, Juan Espinal, Hernán Cadavid, John Jairo Berrio and Julián Peinado.
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In the lawyer’s opinion, the congressmen committed a mistake by making the donation because this would have implied signing a contract with the Government of Antioquia. “The donation contract is perfected when the money leaves the congressman’s assets and enters the Department (…) whether or not the donated resource has been incorporated does not mean that the donation contract was not perfected,” he said in the intervention. of the.
The plaintiff also alleged that the parliamentarians should lose their seats, even if they returned the money, as Turbay, Valencia, Holguín, Espinal, Cadavid and Cabal said they had done, or even when there is no record of the donation with their own name, as is the case of Berrío. Neither would Peinado, Quintero or Guerra be saved, according to the lawyer, although their contributions were not made or accepted by the Government of Antioquia.
Also read: Council of State set a date to discuss loss of investiture to congressmen who donated to the Cow for Antioquia
Finally, when asking the Council of State to grant the claims of his demand, Patiño affirmed that with the contributions there were no acts of solidarity or altruism behind them, but rather proselytism, especially in their capacity as opponents of the national government.
One fact that must be remembered is that the cow was born in the face of the obstacles that Gustavo Petro’s government had placed in not delivering missing resources to finish infrastructure projects, such as some sections of the Toyo Tunnel, which are of great importance for the department. and other areas of the country.
Now, the second to speak was the representative of the Attorney General’s Office, Jaime Díaz, who requested that Patiño’s claim not be granted, because in his opinion, after analyzing the evidence provided by the parties, the conduct was not configured for which they are marked. Among some points that the attorney highlighted are that The Government indicated that the contributions could be returned at the request of the donors; and that no existence of the contract alleged by the plaintiff was proven.
For now, the interventions of the defendants’ attorneys are advancing. So far, the lawyers representing Uribe, Valencia, Guerra, Quintero, Berrío and Holguín have spoken, who They have reiterated the request of the Attorney General’s Office to the magistrates that the loss of investiture not be decreed.
Among some of the arguments they have given are that no contracts were established between them and the Government of Antioquia; that some have not even actually made the contribution and that they have not received and will not receive any compensation for having participated in the cow, beyond the same as any citizen of the department regarding the benefits for completing the 4G routes.
