Colombia’s finance minister Monday denied Monday the Uribe administration is using government funds to secure the Congressional approval of referendum needed to re-elect the President.
Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez said earlier that day it is his constitutional obligation to investigate the accusations by German Vargas Lleras, presidential candidate for Cambio Radical, and Rafael Pardo, presidential candidate for the Liberal Party, the Government.
According to Vargas Lleras, the government is pressuring lawmakers to approve the bill when it is voted for in the House Tuesday. Pardo denounced funds for public security are used for projects that can benefit Representatives in their districts when the 2010 Congressional elections come around.
Interior and Justice Minister Fabio Valencia Cossio accused Pardo of lying. “It bothers me to see a presidential candidate making accusations that do not correspond to the truth,” he said in a press release.
The approval of the referendum in the last congressional vote in the House Tuesday is said to become tight. Many of the coalition’s Representatives who voted in favor of the bill before are under investigation by the Supreme Court for allegedly illegally approving the referendum.
