2023-10-01 07:01:00
Unjustified income and alleged unreported income to Gustavo Petro’s presidential campaign in 2022 came to light in the interrogation that the president’s eldest son, Nicolás Petro Burgos, gave to the Prosecutor’s Office before desisting from collaborating with justice in the investigation in his against for the crimes of illicit enrichment and money laundering.
It should be remembered that the former deputy for the Atlantic was captured – along with his ex-wife Daysuris Vásquez – on July 29 in Barranquilla. Days later, he said that he would collaborate with justice through a negotiation with the Prosecutor’s Office in which he would reveal “new facts and situations (…) for my family and for my baby who is on the way.”
You may be interested: Terrible fire destroyed 70 hectares of frailejones in the Boyacá moor and is going for more.
Five days later, a judge with a guarantee control function granted him the benefit of conditional release. Three weeks later he received a visit from his father, the President of the Republic, in Barranquilla. A visit that caused a stir due to the possibility that the Head of State influenced the case. A month after that visit, the former deputy gave up his intention to collaborate with justice and, therefore, the Prosecutor’s Office presented written knowledge of the accusation (previous step to go to trial) against him before a judge.
Even so, before the withdrawal, the eldest of the president’s sons gave an interrogation, the content of which was revealed by El Tiempo and Semana. In it, the knowledge that the then presidential candidate had about the financing of his campaign through money that was not reported and the names that would be involved in these movements is evident.
The role of Euclides Torres
The names mentioned by Petro Jr. were the businessman Euclides Torres, the former ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti, the contractor Christian Daes, the first lady Verónica Alcocer and the senator of the Historical Pact Pedro Flórez.
On one side of the narrated framework, Benedetti, Flórez and Torres converge. The last one as a shadow financier – since it would not have been reported – of the presidential campaign of the Historical Pact; the first as the one who took Torres, and the second as the intermediary to obtain those moneys.
“From that came a document supposedly that was Verónica, but really the legitimation (of today’s senator Flórez) was given to us by the presidential candidate himself,” said Nicolás Petro.
Euclides Torres is an Atlantic megacontractor who has been managing public lighting concessions in Atlántico, Valle del Cauca and Santander for 20 years, as well as in the transit sector. Former deputy Petro said that his father not only knew that Torres was the patron of his third aspiration to reach the Casa de Nariño, but that she remained silent every time Armando Benedetti openly said that the contractor was behind the payment for the events. .
“He (Gustavo Petro) knew perfectly well that Euclides was the one who financed the campaign,” said his eldest son in the judicial proceedings. He also added that “I mentioned it to him several times” and that “when we traveled to events, Pedro Flórez always went, so he and I talked about financing. Benedetti always emphasized it in my presence.” Given this, according to his son, the then candidate Petro “always remained silent.”
Christian Daes and first lady
On the other side of the knot are Verónica Alcocer, representative Agmeth Escaf, his ex-wife and former advisor to the Ministry of the Interior María Antonia Pardo and the contractor Christian Daes. According to the testimony, in the middle of the campaign the manager of Artesanías de Colombia, Adriana Mejía, met with Daes and Escaf to then transport “some resources for Mrs. Verónica Alcocer”, who she said would have an alleged parallel campaign.
And he added that “Christian Daes financed part of that (Alcocer) campaign”, that “the money came through Agmeth Escaf” and that “the occasion when I was present was in cash.”
Christian Daes is a recognized character in Barranquilla, because together with his brother José Manuel ‘Yuyo’ Daes they have been protagonists in public procurement in that city, through their companies Tecnoglass (glass manufacturer in the United States and Latin America) and A Build (dedicated to public works).
In addition to being very close to the Char family and their political allies, they were the heads behind the construction of the works “La Ventana al Mundo” and “La Aleta del Tiburón” in Barranquilla.
In the book La Costa Nostra by journalist Laura Ardila, a chapter is dedicated to them in which a case opened in 1993 in the United States against them for conspiracy to import cocaine and money laundering (from which they emerged ahead) is mentioned, as well as a mention of them by a self-defense collaborator in which he defines them as “friends of the paramilitary organization.”
What is coming now for Nicolás Petro – who this Saturday said that he made these statements after being beaten “morally and physically” by the Prosecutor’s Office – is a trial in which he will be able to reserve the right to remain silent and not testify against his relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity (which obviously includes his father).
A judge gave me freedom and a judge will be the one who determines my innocence, based on evidence and not on leaks that violate my rights.
To obtain that statement, the Prosecutor’s Office forced me morally and physically, in a procedure that punishes the Human Rights System.
— Nicolás Petro Burgos (@nicolaspetroB)
September 30, 2023
—
What does the accusation against Petro Burgos say?
The prosecutor in this case, Mario Burgos, filed an indictment against Nicolás Petro for the crimes of illicit enrichment and money laundering. In an 83-page document, the Prosecutor’s Office points out the alleged existence of unjustified capital income, given that from his work as a deputy Petro Burgos received income of $280,331,394, but registered income of $1,205,750,000, for which the prosecuting entity indicates that There is no support for the origin of the other $1,053,911,056.
“Mr. Nicolás Fernando Petro Burgos (…) had the capacity to understand his illegality, he understood that he was increasing his economic assets for himself and for others in an unjustified manner, being a public servant,” the letter says.
To read more news about politics, peace, health, justice and current events, visit the Colombia section of EL COLOMBIANO.
#Nicolás #Petro #father #support #Torres #clan