Nicolás Petro, the eldest son of the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro and deputy of the Assembly of the Department of the Atlantic, was arrested this Saturday by the Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating him for the possible crime of money laundering and illicit enrichment, reported that institution.
In addition to Petro Jr., his ex-wife Daysuris Vásquez was captured, who at the beginning of the year accused him of receiving a large sum of money from a drug trafficker for the current president's campaign and of keeping that money. “I will not intervene or pressure his decisions; that the law freely guide the process, ”said the president after his arrest was made public.
The Prosecutor's Office, as reported by EFE, has reported that the arrests took place "today, July 29, 2023, at around 06:00 (11:00 GMT), in compliance with the provisions of the 16th Municipal Criminal Court with the Function of Control of Guarantees of Bogotá".
The institution added in a statement that Nicolás Fernando Petro Burgos was arrested "for the crimes of money laundering and illicit enrichment and Daysuris del Carmen Vásquez Castro for the punishable crimes of money laundering and violation of personal data for events that occurred from 2022 to the date".
"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 probative material elements," he added.
Also, "charges will be made for the aforementioned crimes and a measure restricting freedom will be requested," according to the Prosecutor's Office.
On March 21, the Prosecutor's Office announced that it was criminally investigating Nicolás Petro for his alleged meetings with drug traffickers in prison and for "possible money laundering."
The ex-wife of Petro's son assured at the beginning of that month in an interview with Semana magazine that the drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra, alias "the Marlboro man", gave Nicolás Petro "more than 600 million pesos (about 153,000 dollars of today) for dad's campaign".
"That never reached the campaign legally because he kept that money, and so did others," added the woman, who mentioned that Nicolás Petro also received 200 million pesos (about $51,000) from the controversial businessman Alfonso Turco Hilsaca, who also did not They went to the campaign.
