Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia President’s first son Nicolás Petro summoned Burgos to testify Gustavo Peterand businessman Euclides Torres Allegations of irregularities in the financing of the president’s campaign. This was confirmed to EFE this Tuesday by a source from the Supreme Court of Justice, who said that this is part of the preliminary investigation into the alleged illegal financing of congressmen Pedro Flórez and Agmeth Escaf, both from the ruling coalition Historical Pact pointed out that. Petro’s presidential campaign in 2022.
This investigation was opened last October, when Petro’s son mentioned these in his statement to the Prosecutor’s Office after he was arrested on allegations of illegal enrichment and money laundering.
Campaign of Nicolás Petro and his father
Petro Burgos had been under investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office since March 2023. Complaints from ex-wife Daysuris Vásquez -has entered into a cooperation agreement with the accusing institution- took money from shady businessmen and reputed drug traffickers for his presidential campaign 2022 from his father. Following his arrest, the president’s son admitted to receiving money for the campaign of former drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra and Gabriel Hilsaca Acosta, the son of controversial businessman Alfonso ‘Turco’ Hilsaca, according to the prosecutor’s office. In an interview with Petro Burgos Semana magazine, it is claimed that some of this money went to his father’s 2022 presidential campaign. The president didn’t know.
Petro distanced himself from these accusations and called for the case to be thoroughly investigated, even going so far as to say that he hoped his eldest son’s arrest would prompt him to “reflect on his own mistakes.”
Meanwhile, in September, Semana magazine published videos of an investigation by the president’s son at the Prosecutor’s Office; In this investigation, his father claimed that he “knew very well” that Euclides Torres, a businessman from Barranquilla, “was the person who financed the campaign.” “I mentioned this to him a few times, he knew about it (…) When we went to events, (Senator) Pedro Flórez would always go, so he and I talked about the financing that Euclides had financed,” he said during the hearing. The incident occurred on August 2, before he was called for trial, and broke off his cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the president’s son, this financing is apparently illegal because it was not reported to the National Electoral Council (CNE). According to an investigation by the digital media La Silla Vacía, Euclides Torres is a businessman who leads a group responsible for running public lighting concessions in 15 municipalities in the country through “business camouflage”.