The president of Colombia's son is accused of illicit enrichment and money laundering after not cooperating with law enforcement

The Attorney General's Office of Colombia decided to charge Nicolás Petro, eldest son of leftist president Gustavo Petro, for not keeping his word to cooperate with law enforcement in the money laundering and illicit enrichment case during his father's presidential campaign in 2022.

The Colombian prosecutor's office's accusations include the case of the millions of pesos received by Nicolás Petro from Samuel Santander Lopesierra, who was extradited and convicted in the nineties for drug trafficking in the United States, and an emissary of Alfonso del Cristo Hilsaca, a businessman known as "El Turco" who is facing several legal proceedings.

At the time he received the money, Nicolás Petro was serving as a deputy for the Atlantic Assembly and was handling financial details and political alliances in his father's presidential campaign on the Coast, a key region in Colombia.

According to the Colombian magazine Semana, Nicolás Petro must go to trial because, on several occasions, he failed to meet with the deputy prosecutor Mario Andrés Burgos to deliver the information he promised about his father and corroborate with the corresponding investigations related to drug money.

“In this way, the investigating entity assured that there is no commitment to collaborate which is why the charges document was filed so that the process can move forward,” said Semana, who has closely followed the case of drug financing to Nicolas Petro and his father's presidential campaign. "In this way, Petro, together with his new lawyers, will have to prove his innocence in court before the arsenal of evidence available that the Attorney General's Office has, among which is a statement from his ex-wife Day Vásquez."

"The money they gave him, in cash, was used to purchase an apartment in an exclusive area in the capital of the Atlantic, luxury items - including shoes and watches - and the payment of debts," announced Semana based on Vázquez's report.