Who is the new prosecutor assigned to the Nicolás Petro case?

The Colombian Prosecutor’s Office assigned a new prosecutor for the case against Nicolás Petro, firstborn of President Gustavo Petro, who is facing trial for alleged money laundering, illicit enrichment and violation of personal data within the possible irregular financing of the electoral campaign that brought his father to power in 2022.

This was reported on Thursday by the prosecuting body, which chose “by automatic and random distribution” to the third specialized prosecutor of the Money Laundering Directorate, Lucy Marcela Laborde Betancourt, after the previous prosecutor, Mario Burgos, was removed.

Burgos was removed from the process after the National Commission of Judicial Discipline formulated three charges against him for two very serious offenses and one serious offense for leaking to the media videos recorded during the investigation of the president’s son and for “undue pressure” in his interrogation.

Read also: Who are the new suspects in the UNGRD case?

The case of the president’s son:

The eldest son of the Colombian president is being prosecuted for money laundering and illicit enrichment of a public servant, charges to which the Prosecutor’s Office has added the violation of personal data, since last year, when the investigations against him began, he was a deputy in the National Assembly. department of Atlántico (north).

After being arrested in July of last year, President Petro’s son acknowledged, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, that he received money for the campaign from former drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra and Gabriel Hilsaca Acosta, son of the controversial businessman Alfonso ‘Turco’ Hilsaca.

The Prosecutor’s Office assures that Nicolás Petro “hid and concealed” sums up to 500 million pesos (about 126,700 dollars) of money delivered by politicians such as Máximo Noriega, a leader from the north coast of the country accused of being the intermediary between alleged drug traffickers and the president’s son.

Also: Olmedo López case: This is how the hearing is progressing

Part of that money supposedly went to the Petro Presidente campaign in 2022, although Nicolás assured in an interview with the Semana magazine that the president did not know.

Nicolás Petro has been under house arrest at his residence in Barranquilla since the middle of last year.

Credits: EFE Agency.