A Colombian judge ordered this Friday that Nicholas Petro Burgosson of the Colombian president, Gustavo Petroand his ex-wife, daysuris vasquezrespond freely, but with restrictions, to the process they face for money laundering and other crimes, a case that splashes the government of their father.
He Municipal Criminal Judge 74 with functions of control of guarantees accepted the requests of the defense and ordered that the security measure requested by the Prosecutor’s Office in the case of Nicolás Petro Burgos is not necessary.
“The judge for control of guarantees in the case, thanks to the collaboration commitment of the two defendants achieved by the Prosecutor’s Office, imposed a non-custodial measure on Petro Burgos and Vázquez Castro and they continue to be linked to the criminal investigation,” the prosecution body stated in a statement.
However the judge It provided that the defendants may not leave the country nor “from the area where their capture took place, the city of Barranquilla.”
The couple was arrested Saturday and three days later the Prosecutor’s Office charged the president’s son with the crimes of money laundering and illicit enrichment of a public servant, and Vásquez with those of money laundering and breach of personal data.
The arrest was made as part of a investigation that the Prosecutor’s Office opened in March happened after Vásquez told Semana magazine that Nicolás Petro received money from drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra, alias “the Marlboro man”, for the campaign of today’s president and that he appropriated it.
In another hearing held yesterday, the prosecutor in the case, Mario Burgos, said that after accepting a collaboration agreement with Justice, Nicholas Petro revealed that some of the allegedly illegal money he received went into his father’s 2022 election campaign.
“It is strictly forbidden for him to interact with the people who gave him money of illicit origin and with anyone involved,” the judge told Petro Burgos tonight, whom he also prohibited, like Vásquez, “from participating in any event political”.
As part of collaboration agreementthe president’s son had already promised to resign his position as deputy in the Assembly of the Department of the Atlantic, whose capital is Barranquilla.
The judge also ordered that the couple be investigated for crimes of undue interest in entering into contracts and false documents, in addition to those already charged.
“Obviously criminal copies will be certified so that the undue interest in the conclusion of contracts is investigated and I think that it goes beyond the orbit of that criminal conduct by Petro Burgos and others who may be participating,” said the judge.
This decision is based on the audios presented yesterday before the Court by the prosecutor, which show that the couple had a network of influence peddling, bribery and other illegal acts in the Atlantic, taking advantage of Nicolás Petro’s status as deputy.
Obligations and good conduct
By giving them the opportunity to respond to the process in freedom, the judge said that both have “to observe good conduct” and are “obliged to appear at all calls that are made on behalf of this process”, either by the Court or by the Prosecutor’s Office
Both the Prosecutor’s Office and the defendants and their lawyers accepted the judge’s decision and said they will not appeal.
This morning, the main lawyer for Nicolás Petro, José David Teleki, warned that the life of his client is at risk because there are people who do not want the truth to be known about the corruption scandal that affects his father’s campaign and for that reason he asked at a home detention hearing.
“My defendant is a key witness to completely disrupt a corrupt structure that must be investigated and that must bring those responsible before the courts,” said the lawyer.
