The Colombian Prosecutor’s Office arrested this Saturday Nicholas Petroson of the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petrofor a possible crime of money laundering and illicit enrichment for which he has been charged.
According to Colombian Prosecutor’s Officethe arrest occurred “today, July 29, 2023, around 6:00 a.m. in compliance with the provisions of the 16th Municipal Criminal Court with the Bogotá Guarantee Control Function.”
The note from the Prosecutor’s Office added that “those captured will be placed at the disposal of a municipal criminal judge with the function of guarantee control, who will be asked to impart legality to the procedures of search, capture and seizure of material elements of evidence.”
“In the same way, charges will be made for the aforementioned crimes and a measure restricting freedom will be requested. This information is published for reasons of general interest.
According to the Colombian newspaper The viewerthe Prosecutor’s Office also arrested the ex-wife of Nicolás Petro, Daysuris Vásquez, investigated for money laundering and violation of personal data.
The criminal acts that the Prosecutor’s Office accuses Nicolás Petro and his ex-wife have occurred continuously since 2022.
The Colombian president has distanced himself from his son’s legal problems. In fact, last March, it was he himself who asked the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate his son and his brother, Juan Fernando, for another case of bribery to drug traffickers.
In a message on his Twitter profile, Gustavo Petro He himself reported that “my son Nicolás and his ex-wife Days have been captured by the prosecution.”
«As a person and a father, so much self-destruction hurts me a lot and the fact that one of my children goes to jail; As President of the Republic, I ensure that the prosecution has all the guarantees on my part to proceed in accordance with the law,” he added.
I wish my son luck and strength. May these events forge his character and he may reflect on his own mistakes. As I stated before the attorney general, I will not intervene or pressure his decisions; let the law freely guide the process”, he concluded.
The investigation against Petro began precisely because of a complaint from daysuris vasquez who accused him in early 2023 of receiving large sums of money from drug trafficking to finance his father’s campaign. However, he would have kept that money to enrich himself.
As reported EFEthe ex-wife of Nicholas Petro denounced in an interview in the magazine Week than the drug dealer Samuel Santander Lopesierraalias “the Marlboro man”, gave Nicolás Petro “more than 600 million pesos (about 153,000 dollars today) for the father’s campaign.”
Nicolás Petro would have kept the money, but it was not the only case. According to Vásquez’s complaint, Nicolás Petro also received 200 million pesos (about $51,000) from the controversial businessman Alfonso “Turkish” Hilsacawhich also did not make it to the campaign.
