The son of President Gustavo Petro has confessed to funneling illegal funds to his father’s 2022 campaign, according to the prosecution.
Nicolas Petro and his ex-wife Daysuris Vasquez were arrested on Saturday on money laundering and illicit enrichment charges because they allegedly received campaign contributions from shady figures.
The devastating charges against the son of Colombia’s president
Petro agreed to cooperate with justice and confessed that he and his ex-wife had not kept all these illegal contributions to themselves as previously assumed, prosecutor Mario Burgos told an arraignment judge.
The president’s son admitted to embezzling campaign funds and “provided relevant information that the prosecution did not know about the latest presidential campaign,” according to the prosecutor.
Petro additionally vowed to provide evidence “about the possible contribution of large sums of money from major businessmen to the aforementioned presidential campaign, some of which, apparently, had not been reported” to electoral authorities, said Burgos.
The president’s son “committed to provide documentation, technical evidence and audios to support the information provided,” the prosecutor told the court.
Petro’s alleged confessions are a major blow to the president and First Lady Veronica Alcocer, who was allegedly involved in funneling illegal contributions to the campaign.
Following the latest revelations and less than three months before regional elections, the Green Party said that it would reconsider its place in the government coalition in Congress.
Conservative and fascist opposition parties demanded the resignation of the president of state-run oil company Ecopetrol, Ricardo Roa, who was responsible for Petro’s campaign funds.
Burgos told the court that the prosecution would open additional criminal investigations into those who allegedly helped the president’s son funnel illegal contributions to the 2022 campaign treasury.