A Colombian judge on Tuesday accused Nicolás Petro Burgos, the eldest son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, of the crimes of money laundering (laundering) and illicit enrichment of a public servant, at a public hearing held in Bogotá.
The accusation was made by the Municipal Criminal Court 74 with collateral control functions, which also charged the ex-wife of Nicolás Petro, Daysuris Vásquez, also detained, with the crimes of money laundering and violation of personal data.
Both Nicolás Petro Burgos and Vásquez did not accept the charges presented before the judge by the first prosecutor delegated to the Superior Court of Bogotá, Mario Burgos.
The president’s eldest son was arrested on Saturday in Barranquilla as part of an investigation launched last March by the Prosecutor’s Office after his ex-wife revealed to the press that he received illegal money for his father’s campaign, which in the end was never received. his destiny because he used it to increase his patrimony.
The prosecutor accused Petro Burgos, who is a deputy of the Assembly of the Department of the Atlantic, of “acquiring, investing, hiding, covering up and giving the appearance of legality” to illicit money in the framework of the crime of money laundering, while in the of illicit enrichment indicated him for “obtaining for himself or for another” goods and resources illegally.
As for Vásquez, in addition to money laundering, he was charged with violation of personal data for the “invasion of the privacy of Laura Ojeda”, the current partner of Petro Burgos, from whom he obtained “privileged information” to find out since when his now ex-husband “began to establish dialogue and relationship” with her.
“If you freely, consciously, voluntarily without pressure or pressure decide to accept your responsibility, you can obtain a sentence reduction of up to 50%,” explained the prosecutor.
For an agreement, according to the prosecutor, Petro would have to repay 1,053,911,056 pesos (about $263,545) that are not the product of his work as a deputy and are an unjustified increase in assets.
As for Vásquez, the prosecutor assured that “he will continue to collaborate with justice and will report other irregularities”, such as illegal contracts, other assets and money received illegally and more irregularities in the financing of political campaigns.
After the charges were filed, the judge suspended the hearing, which will be resumed this Tuesday to decide whether to impose a security measure on them, which consists of responding to the process in detention, given the minimum sentence that these crimes entail.
The prosecutor questioned on Tuesday the expenses and income of Petro Burgos since in the last two years it had profits of 220 million pesos (about 54,000 dollars at today’s exchange rate), but spent 1,600 million pesos (almost 399,000 dollars).
The accused has a salary of “13 million pesos a month (3,200 dollars at today’s exchange rate)”, but to justify his monthly expenses, the detainee would have to earn about 200 million pesos (almost 50,000 dollars) a month, according to the calculations presented by the accuser.
Regarding the money that Petro Burgos obtained illegally in recent years, the prosecutor explained that he received sums of up to 600 million pesos (about 150,000 dollars) from Alfonso “Turco” Hilsaca, a businessman with paramilitary ties, in his apartment in Barranquilla, where Vásquez was present, who kept the money in the building’s safe.
He was also accused of receiving large sums of money from businessmen in the city of Cúcuta, as well as accepting a van from a contractor in Villavicencio that he “destined for his personal scheme” and that his ex-wife still has, according to the prosecutor.
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