Colombia's Supreme Court is investigating former president Gustavo Petro over allegations that state contracts were handed out in exchange for sexual relationships, a scandal that has split the country's left and put the former leader's legacy under strain. The court's president confirmed on Sunday that Petro is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct covering his time as president and as a congressman, according to AFP.

The allegations were made public by Deicy Jimenez, a 26-year-old former state contractor, in an interview with the magazine Semana on 25 October. She said she had a relationship with Petro that began in 2019, when he was a senator, and that she later received public contracts in return. She claims about 30 to 40 other women received contracts through a similar arrangement.

What the accuser alleges

Jimenez has published a video of herself with Petro and shared chat messages that she presents as evidence of the relationship. Noticias Caracol published a chat exchange from late 2025 in which Petro appears to ask the then head of the presidency's administrative department to renew Jimenez's contract at the Interior Ministry. An analysis of official contracting records by El Pais found Jimenez held 10 contracts between 2022 and 2026, seven with the Senate, two with the Interior Ministry and one with the Superintendency of Vigilance, worth about 133 million pesos.

Petro denies the claims

Petro has denied the allegations, saying on X: "I have never handed over a contract in exchange for sexual relations." He says he will defend himself before the courts rather than on social media, and has blamed the scandal on an operation by the government of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, without providing evidence. The Attorney General's Office and the Inspector General's Office have opened inquiries, a complaint has reached the House Accusation Commission, and Jimenez has handed her phone to investigators for forensic examination.

A split on the left

The affair has opened a rift inside the Historic Pact, the movement that carried Petro to power. Senator Ivan Cepeda, the pact's presidential candidate who narrowly lost the runoff to De la Espriella, urged the movement not to cover up violence against women out of political loyalty. Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president in the modern era, left office on 7 August. The allegations have not been proven in court, and the number of women said to be involved has not been established.