The son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors after facing charges of money laundering and illicit enrichment.
But allegations in the case threaten to dent the president’s already-declining public approval ratings, as questions swirl about the financing of his 2022 election campaign.
On Friday, both the prosecution and the defence requested that Nicolás Petro, the president’s 37-year-old son, receive house arrest while the case against him proceeds.
“If he went to jail, he wouldn’t last 24 hours. We can assure it,” defence lawyer David Teleki told the newspaper El Colombiano. “There are people here who do not want the truth to be known.”
The younger Petro was arrested on July 29 for allegedly taking money from individuals with drug-trafficking ties, on the supposed premise he could help them benefit from his father’s plans to bring peace to Colombia.
The accusations first emerged in an interview that Nicolás Petro’s ex-wife, Daysuris “Day” Vásquez, had with the news magazine Semana in March.
Post from www.aljazeera.com