House of Representatives President Augusto Posada on Monday admitted to knowing a recently arrested suspected crime lord known as the “Gold Czar.”
In an interview with W Radio, the House President allegedly admitted to knowing Jairo Humberto Escobar Brown, the allegedly powerful criminal who was arrested last week, but denied receiving money for his election campaign from the affluent gold mine owner known by locals as the ruthless “Gold Czar” in the Antioquia department.
Posada claimed to only know that Escobar was “an entrepreneur with many employees” and although he admitted to meeting Escobar at several public events to present policy proposals and as a mediator in a sale of Fontino Gold Mines in 2009, Posada asserted that those public incidents were the extent of their relationship.
Posada also stated that despite the authorities not informing him of any illegal activities that the Gold Czar might be involved in prior to his arrest, Posada maintained to have “distanced himself” from Escobar when he began to hear rumors of the mining entrepreneur’s criminal affairs, crimes that have since come to light and include homicides, formation of illegal groups, forced displacement of populations and illicit enrichment.
Since his arrest on November 24, Escobar the “Gold Czar” has been accused of an extensive criminal history, including explicit collaboration with notorious crime syndicate the “Rastrojos” as a financier of their criminal activities–such as drug trafficking– in the northeastern region of Antioquia, a department in central Colombia.