Petro campaign financing splashes other politicians

The scandal surrounding the alleged illegal financing of the Colombian president’s campaign, Gustavo Petrothey can also spit on other politicians who were not mentioned at the hearing where she is the prosecutor in the case accused of money laundering and illegal enrichment Nikola Petro Burgosthe president’s eldest son.

One of those politicians can be Alex Chara member of one of the most important political clans in the country, which for 16 years has been pulling the strings of political and economic power in Barranquilla and the department of Atlántico, of which it is the capital, according to a report published this Sunday by Cambio magazine.

In one of the conversations between the president’s son and his ex-wife daysuris vasquezof December 19, 2021, which the prosecutor Mario Burgos did not mention in the court hearings of the last few days, Nicolás Petro Burgos tells his partner at the time: “Ask A. CH.” for gifts.

The conclusion of the head of the judicial police, Víctor Alfonso Forer, who intervened in the investigation, is that “it is concluded that the person mentioned as A. CH. Alex Char (…)” who could be close to Daysuris “Despite being an opponent Petar, both the president and his son, who was a representative in the Atlantic Assembly, to which he resigned yesterday as part of an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office.

Álex Char was the governor of Atlántico and the mayor of Barranquilla on two occasions, and he wants to win that position again in the elections on October 29.

According to a report repeated by the magazine, a day after that conversation, “Nicolás asks Daysuris to check” the bank account because he “received some deposits,” but investigators are not detailing whether any of it “was a ‘gift’ he asked for from Char.”

In another conversation, this time between Vásquez and Char, the latter tells him “Leo will get you something”, “5 points”, which could be five million pesos (about $1250 today), according to the explanation given by Daysuris, Nikola Petro .

DANGEROUS CONNECTIONS

“The relationships that Daysuris and Nicolás had on the Caribbean coast were with all social and political sectors, among them was Mr. Alex Char, who allegedly sent five million pesos in cash to Daysuris on May 11, 2022,” the report said. researchers published by Cambio.

According to the magazine, in another conversation the next day, Nicolás Petro asks Vásquez, “Honey, did he really send you five points?” 50,000 pesos.

However, Char’s lawyer Iván Cancino, consulted by Cambio, assured that the information was false and that the person was saved on Vásquez’s phone as “A. CH.” It doesn’t suit your client.

“That’s not true. We’re going to petition the prosecutor’s office to verify who owns that number associated with the name Alex Char,” Cancino told the magazine.

The prosecution’s investigation is focused on the money that Petro Burgos allegedly received from a drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierraknown as “the man from Marlboro”, and Gabriel Hilsaca Acosta, the son of a controversial businessman Alfonso “Turkish” Hilsacapart of which allegedly went to the presidential campaign.

That revelation triggered the biggest scandal in the government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who just celebrates one year in office tomorrow.

“The campaign did not receive any money of an illegal nature and I found out what happened in a meeting I had with Nicolás’ ex-wife in my office just a few months ago when I asked them to investigate my son,” Petro said yesterday.

For his part, his son assured in an interview for the magazine Week that neither his father nor the campaign manager, Ricardo Roa, “didn’t know about the money Daysuris and I received from Santander Lopesierra and Gabriel Hilsaca.”