“I am not a witness”; makes it clear that the call with the “indicted” was protocol before the scandal

2023-09-14 07:39:11

Through a letter, prosecutor Francisco Barbosa responded to Laura Sarabia and her lawyer Jorge Mario Gómez Restrepo about the request they made days ago for him to be a witness in the case that is progressing through the polygraph of the former nanny Marelbys Meza.

Sarabia’s defense has indicated that there was never an abuse of power and that the polygraph test was a completely justified action, since in addition to the money that was lost, some documents on security issues had also been lost.

The lawyer said that the Government official had a communication with the prosecutor to inform him about what happened, which is why she announced that they would call him as a witness.

Sarabia was recently named the new director of DPS. | Photo: esteban vega la-rotta – week

Given this, the head of the Prosecutor’s Office responded through a letter addressed to the jurist in which he stressed that the conversation “did not have the content or scope that he intends to give it.”

“The sole objective of the communication was to inform the victim that the Attorney General’s Office would carry out all the necessary investigative acts to clarify the possible theft committed at his residence, within the framework of the entity’s powers,” he said.

Barbosa asserted that he has no knowledge about the polygraph of the former nanny

The prosecutor maintained that the call was only made to discuss the theft. | Photo: Juan Carlos Sierra-Semana

Then, the official made it clear that he has no knowledge of what subsequently happened with the former nanny Meza, that is, the polygraph test and the illegal interceptions of which she was a victim along with another worker.

“It is worth reiterating that the aforementioned call was only a protocol call in my capacity as a State servant, on the occasion of the specific acts of theft of which Dr. Sarabia would have been a victim,” he indicated.

“As a basis for the above, none of the short and formal conversation with her client had to do with the events in which she acts as an accused, of which, again, I am not a witness nor do I know anything about. Therefore, I have nothing to say about the criminal hypothesis that is handled there or about aspects related to its defense strategy,” she pointed out.

Finally, the prosecutor stressed that, with what was mentioned in the letter, he specified “the only thing that I know in relation to the facts” for which Laura Sarabia, one of the most powerful women in the Government of President Gustavo Petro, is being investigated.

The prosecutor specified that the communication lasted only a few seconds. | Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images

This, due to the loss of a suitcase containing cash and some classified documents that, supposedly, were related to the head of state and Vice President Francia Márquez.

Until a few weeks ago, the entire process was carried out only in the Attorney General’s Office, but after her appointment as director of the DPS, which took place on September 4, Sarabia acquired constitutional jurisdiction and this led to that the case be assumed by a prosecutor delegated to the Supreme Court of Justice.