2023-08-05 07:18:43
After a turbulent week – which put the government of President Gustavo Petro on the ropes –, for now, the legal situation of Nicolás Petro Burgos and his ex-wife Daysuris Vásquez, accused of receiving questioned money for their personal gain and that, In addition, they would have splashed the accounts of the campaign of the current president.
This Friday, at the end of the hearing in which the insurance measure for Petro and Vásquez was defined, the judge in the case agreed that both face the trial in freedom. Of course, under conditions such as not participating in political events or leaving the country. That freedom is subject to a series of commitments that the ex-partner surely agreed with the Prosecutor’s Office to continue clarifying the case and determine the origin of the millionaire resources.
The balance was bittersweet, since the togado ordered copies to be certified against the ex-partner for more crimes: in addition to illicit enrichment and money laundering, now they will have to answer for undue interest in entering into contracts and false public documents. The judge was emphatic in also noting that they cannot have contact with the 16 accused of allegedly providing them with resources.
The arsenal of evidence against the now ex-Atlántico deputy and his ex-wife, Daysuris del Carmen Vásquez, was so devastating that –perhaps cornered and with no way out– they had no choice but to agree to collaborate with justice and expose a true criminal network around the illicit enrichment and money laundering. By the way, they ended up splashing and questioning the way in which “the government of change” rose to power.
The web of irregularities shelters businessmen, politicians and leaders who today are called to show their faces and explain whether or not they were related to the increase in wealth, eccentricities and luxuries of the ex-partner. The question is obvious: who gave the money?
Although today all eyes are on a scheme that went viral with 26 people who would have to do with the network – in which the president’s front line stands out: former ministers, officials, contractors, Pact congressmen and even the First Lady, Verónica Alcocer–, there is another much more devastating “roscograma” that has passed from bending down and where the Prosecutor’s Office scrutinizes to find out the origin of the millionaire resources.
This is an investigative line that the Prosecutor’s Office managed to call the “Fasad” case, an Arabic expression that literally means corruption. At least 16 people from the Atlantic Coast appear dotted there who “gave up the money to finance, in one way or another, the increase in assets of Petro Burgos and Day Vásquez (…) by injecting capital into Nicolás they ended up injecting money into the campaign president of the current president”, as explained by prosecutor Mario Burgos during the hearing on the insurance measure.
The official managed to collect testimonials, chats, audios and promises to buy and sell that account for the irregularities, as well as the ex-partner’s luxurious life, which included exclusive properties and condominiums; various brand vehicles such as Mercedes Benz, Toyota or Mazda, as well as clothing from renowned brands such as Carolina Herrera or Hugo Boss.
“They used the name of third parties, among family members and friends, so that they would appear as owners of the assets and in this way, evade the control of the authorities, they also carried out maneuvers to try to justify what they acquired,” said prosecutor Burgos.
The sprinkling bouquet
The first group of those involved in the “Fasad” case include leaders, businessmen and politicians who, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, would have a close relationship with Petro Burgos and who would have delivered part of the resources to him. Here appears an old acquaintance who was fundamental to the Petro campaign in the Atlantic: the mega-contractor Euclides Torres.
In context: Armando Benedetti will answer before the Court: will his strategy be to take refuge in the Torres clan?
This is an individual close to ex-ambassador Armando Benedetti – who months ago spoke of the irregular entry of $15,000 million into the coffers of Petro President – who, at the end of business with public lighting, built an emporium with tentacles in politics. Hence, he is considered one of the alleged undeclared financiers of the presidential campaign, to the point of “providing money and logistics” for events.
Torres is the brother of Dolcey Torres, representative to the liberal Chamber, but with a petrist tendency, and is the uncle of the deputy Karina Llanos Torres, none other than the current partner of the senator of the Historical Pact Pedro Flórez, who is also mentioned in the framework . “Euclides speaks in Gustavo’s ear (…) Euclides has more power than Nicolás,” said Day Vásquez in one of the conversations revealed by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Another of the businessmen who appears sprinkled in the case is Christian Daes, today president of the Barranquilla company Tecnoglass. Although at the time he denied any type of contribution, in the middle of the 2022 contest it was learned that he paid María Antonia Pardo, one of the journalists at the service of the then candidate Gustavo Petro.
In addition to Jorge Robayo, an enigmatic man brought to light by the Prosecutor’s Office, Óscar Camacho emerges, whom the entity considered a “powerful businessman from Cúcuta” who -according to the testimony that Petro gave to the Prosecutor’s Office- would have contributed resources which, although the ex-partner earmarked for their personal expenses, also ended up in the president’s campaign. The newspaper La Opinión of the capital of Norte de Santander revealed that in his family there are people dedicated to lending money and linked to drug trafficking.
In the plot there is another decisive character: Máximo Noriega, considered the political godfather of Petro Burgos, former manager of his campaign in 2019 and who at the last minute the Historical Pact withdrew its blessing to be the candidate for Governor of the Atlantic. “Maximum, I am not stealing from him (Nicolás Petro), because that money was not for him either. Here he is stealing, I am stealing, the other is stealing and we are all stealing”, says Vásquez in the conversations.
When breaking down the scheme that the Prosecutor’s Office managed to put together, two key figures appear with whom the scandal started and who would have delivered resources in the order of $1,000 million that, although they went secretly for the campaign, would have ended up in the pockets of Nicolás Petro: the former drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra, known as the Marlboro Man, and Gabriel Hilsaca, son of Alfonso Hilsaca –whom they know as the Turco Hilsaca–, a contractor who has also been linked to corruption scandals.
family and friends
In another of the tentacles of the “roscograma” names of the closest circle and even family of Nicolás Petro stand out. In the first place, Camilo Burgos, cousin of the former deputy and who appeared dotted in the chats for apparent movements of money, as well as for being the one who would have rented one of the luxurious vans in which Petro was mobilized and which was later known to be owned by of the contractor of the Meta Juan Manuel Sarmiento Mejía.
“He used that truck (Petro Burgos) for his personal scheme, in addition, that same businessman would have delivered a sum of cash. From that truck, which you returned, Mrs. Day Vásquez still has the key and the controls,” said the prosecutor.
In the second line is Germán Londoño, a close friend of the former deputy and who appears in photographs with the current mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero. “(Londoño) is handling all the money that comes to Nicolás,” Day Vásquez denounced last March. Apparently, this individual would be a lobbyist with ties to high government. In addition to photos with Máximo Noriega, he was captured with former ministers Irene Vélez or María Isabel Urrutia, as well as with Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva.
The triad is closed by Raymond Montaño who, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, acted as the ex-partner’s processor, and who would have managed to have one of the Mercedes Benz brand cars (valued at $200 million) remain in the name of a third party so as not to raise suspicions . In this case, it would be Blanca Isabel Gutiérrez (another of those accused), who would be a former contractor for the Governor’s Office of the Atlantic. “(The ex-partner) hid and incurred not only its real owner, but also the origin of said resources,” the prosecutor declared about the vehicle.
Those close to Daysuris
In a last group of splashes, 5 people with a closer relationship to Daysuris Vásquez appear. In addition to Blanca Gutiérrez, the name of Mónica “Kiki” Lopesierra, daughter of the Marlboro Man, who last June – acting as a witness – gave a statement to the Attorney General’s Office stands out here. In addition to her obvious relationship with her father, the woman leads a company that organizes exclusive events in Barranquilla. She is married to Jorge Albeiro Giraldo, owner of the company Plastigiraldo SAS.
In the midst of this framework, the alleged irregular participation of the ex-partner in a state contract became known: between the Government of the Atlantic and a foundation called Conciencia Social, whose legal representative was Gustavo de la Ossa, another of those involved. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Petro Burgos, Day Vásquez, de la Ossa and another man named Pedro Name (a friend of Daysuris) manipulated the award of the contract – designed for the care of the elderly – “to appropriate the resources awarded for the execution of the project”.
Finally, César Emilio Vásquez, Day Vásquez’s uncle, stands out, who took over the name of one of the properties in Barranquilla acquired by the couple. The judge in the case himself asked the Prosecutor’s Office to certify copies against him, “because all the time is given so that assets can be placed in his name without being able to prove their legality.”
All these 16 individuals, according to the thesis of the Prosecutor’s Office, have some degree of involvement in the patrimonial increase of more than $1,053 million of the ex-partner without being able to justify their origin. Therefore, many of them would be linked to the case.
“They made indistinct contributions that, apparently, helped Petro and Day Vásquez, to increase their patrimony in an unjustified manner, as an antecedent conduct to the crime of money laundering (…) they helped in obtaining resources from a possible corruption to inject capital to the presidential campaign that, in one way or another, was not reported to the electoral authorities,” the prosecutor concluded.
Based on the testimonies and statements made by those involved, the case could continue to be unraveled and the alleged illegal financing of the campaign of another president in Colombia would finally be clarified. The process just starts.
“The Government will continue without distractions”
In the midst of his son’s revelations, President Gustavo Petro issued a statement yesterday in which he admitted that he received “with pain” the complaints about alleged irregularities in the campaign on the Coast. By ratifying that “it will be the judges in their different powers who legally define what corresponds,” he announced that he granted power to Mauricio Pava Lugo, co-judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, to represent him in the case. On the other hand, he assured that he will continue “decidedly” with his presidential agenda and that the Government “will continue its task and commitment without distractions.”
Previously, Nicolás Petro insisted during the hearing that his collaboration with justice “has been a totally free decision and free of all kinds of pressure.”
#Nicolás #Petro #rich #protagonists #alleged #irregularities