Executing thick file The Supreme Court case against former congressman Armando Benedetti for alleged illicit enrichment and money laundering left Judge Cristina Lombana’s office two weeks ago.
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In the high court, the objection against the togada, which Benedetti’s defense pointed out for giving a preliminary opinion on the case, was accepted.. In addition, the former senator continued to act within the file even though he lost his jurisdiction when he was temporarily transferred to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office due to his ambassador status.
“He’s got a furious delirium to chase me“, Benedetti said about Lombana, who has two other cases against him. And their defense argues that they have no guarantees of impartiality or respect for due process and defense in the matter of the robe.
What is concrete is that at that time After he was removed from the case, the judge was about to resolve Benedetti’s legal situation.
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EL TIEMPO first established: According to the Investigation Department, his legal position was already known; This included requesting the imposition of a security measure combined with preventive detention, without the benefit of house arrest.
Expert reports in the file mention that his assets are at least 2.971 million pesos It has not been explained in either accounting or financial terms.
deceased person’s loan, A deal with a former brother-in-law and the purchase of a seized asset are part of the process for a new magistrate to consider, but for Lombana it led to his capture.
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EL TIEMPO, your talked-about ex-brother-in-law Carlos Alberto Dada Barguil. Her name had already been heard because she was one of the passengers on the luxury private jet on which Benedetti took Marelbys Meza, Laura Sarabia’s former nanny, to Venezuela. Shortly before the Petro government official money theft scandal broke, this scandal had already detained people.
Dada Barguil, ex-husband Benedetti’s political campaign manager, Ángela Benedetti, revealed that her father (Carlos Dada Chamíe) loaned the former congressman 450 million pesos in cash shortly before his death.
With this money, part of the payment of 1,600 million pesos for the apartment that Benedetti bought in 2018 will be justified. In Altos del Retiro, north of Bogota, passing the National Narcotics Directorate (DNE).
Besides being invisible Reports from experts who reported the loan on DIAN show that this amount is not present in Dada Chamíe’s accounts. And no evidence of debt payments as described by Dada Barguil was found.
And there’s another deal the ex-brother-in-law came up with: buying a house at 51st and Fourth Street, also in Bogota.
Dada Barguil said he paid the money out of his own pocket 43 million pesos to purchase the property he improved on for another 35 million. He added that he also invited Benedetti to the job, which reached a total of 285 million pesos.
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At that time, the former brother-in-law’s accounts were seized and he was financially blocked due to his debts. It also appears that Benedetti is in charge.
Dada Barguil He explained that the money he used for this purchase belonged to approximately 400 million pesos that he kept in a safe in his closet, a product of his construction business.. And he said he wasn’t using the money to pay off his debts because he would negotiate with them first.
Another incident on which the investigation is based, and which Benedetti’s defense, like the previous ones, openly denies, is the cash issue. credit cards and other consumptions are paid.
That section includes foreign currency transfers worth 465 thousand dollars abroad. Elsy Pinzón, consultant to the Congressional Legislative Task Force (UTL), between 2010 and 2017.
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Benedetti explained to EL TIEMPO at the time: It was money he sent to his children and an investment in New York that he later turned down.
But in the opinion of experts, these transactions and the source of funds needed to purchase an apartment in Altos del Retiroremains opaque.
In this last case, those negotiating the property –Ruby Corredor Ruiz and Édgar Beltrán–didn’t have the money to buy it.
In fact, Beltrán admitted: A loan from factoring Servimos SAS to get the work done and for Corredor to then sell it to Benedetti.
Evidence shows Benedetti paid Management before closing the business. Additionally, the owners of Factoring Servimos, which gave loans to the Gutiérrez Villegas family, also have apartments in this building; one of them also negotiated with the DNE.
In dialogue with EL TIEMPO, the defense of Benedetti and the former congressman pointed out that every peso is justified; HE The attorney general’s office warned that the initial accounting report was inaccurate and the judge had to change it twice; and that there are duplicate expenses.
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They also condemned Lombana in criminal and disciplinary terms: “Together with forensic experts, every kilo recorded in 20 years will be revealed. A judge is not a guarantee of impartiality or respect for the defense and the judicial process” (see note below).
Lawyer Lombana is pursuing two lawsuits against Benedetti with the support of the Court.
Neither Armando Benedetti’s defense – which was in the hands of the accused David Benavides – nor the former senator knew that the judge knew this. Cristina Lombana would resolve her legal situation by requesting security measures in prison.
But Benavides told EL TIEMPO that he was not surprised because it confirmed the judge’s hostility. He excluded him from the case because of the rejection decision, which was approved by the court itself.
“It is not a guarantee of impartiality. We have already reported him for disciplinary and criminal charges, and the evidence has been transferred, so the Investigation Department has agreed to remove him from the case“said the lawyer.
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Regarding the process, he said the forensic team worked to show that every peso of Benedetti’s assets was justified. The former senator emphasized that the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office pointed out that the first expert report submitted by Lombana was poorly prepared: “He had to correct it and repeat it twice, and the Court warned him that it was a simple tax report with no probative value. It doubles my expenses and we’ll prove it.
The claim that I do not justify my existence is false. There are 30 people ready to testify about withdrawing money, depositing money, buying foreign currency for my children, everything.”.
After reiterating the complaint against Lombana, they stated that other processes involving the former senator should also be removed: Fonade and Fomac.
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Source: Exame
