A Senator denounced three Supreme Court judges for violating constitutional guarantees by investigating 86 House Representatives for their allegedly illegal approval of a referendum seeking
the re-election of President Alvaro Uribe.
According to Senator Pablo Victoria, the Court has no right to investigate the Representatives.
The Court decided to open an investigation after one of the opposition Representatives sued his colleagues, because they approved moving forward with the process to call a referendum, while a previous referendum was still being investigated by the Electoral Council. According to the Natinal Registry, this referendum broke regulations on the financing of the project.
No law of Colombia’s Political Constitution says the approval of a referendum needs to take the funding of the project into account, Victoria told newspaper El Espectador.
The funding of the bill is only the responsibility of the promoters and the National Electoral Council but not of the Congressmen, Victoria explains.
The
referendum is the only way for Uribe to be re-elected again and its
passing through Congress has been controversial along the way.
A
commission of Representatives and Senators has yet to approve the bill,
after which the constitutional court must investigate the
constitutionality of it. Many Congressmen and analysts say the
referendum will not make it on time.