Prosecutors solicited charges against ex-congressman Teodolindo Avendaño for allegedly falsifying documents to hide an illegal campaign contribution from disgraced ex-congresswoman Yidis Medina, El Espectador reported Friday.
According to the anti-corruption prosecutor who filed the request, Avendaño accepted a donation of $82,500 from Medina during his campaign for the House of Representatives in 2006. This contribution was not reported to the National Electoral Council, as is the legal requirement.
A hearing to determine if charges of falsifying documents and receiving illegal campaign donations will be formally brought upon Avendaño will be held on April 25.
Avendaño was previously sentenced to eight years of house arrest in 2009 for not voting on the constitutional reform that would have allowed then President Alvaro Uribe to be re-elected for a third term, in exchange for a bribe of $97,000.
The congressman disappeared on the day of the vote to change the constitution to allow Uribe to serve a third term. Avendaño had reportedly always been a vociferous opponent of the constitutional change.
Yidis Medina was sentenced to four years and two months of house arrest in 2010 for the charge of illegal enrichment associated with her acceptance of a government bribe in exchange for her vote for the allowance of the re-election of Uribe for a third term. At the time of this sentence she had already been serving a three year and 11 month house arrest sentence for her 2008 bribery conviction.
