Prosecutors arrested the son of Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro on money laundering and illicit enrichment charges.
Nicolas Petro and his ex-wife Daysuris Vasquez were arrested in the Caribbean port city Barranquilla on Saturday morning, the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.
Petro, who had requested the investigation, confirmed the arrests and wished his son “good luck and strength” in a post on social media platform Twitter.
The prosecution opened the investigation after the publication in March of phone conversations between the president’s oldest son and his ex-wife that were recorded by Vasquez while they were in the process of getting a divorce.
In these conversations, Vasquez referred to alleged campaign contributions made by controversial figures from the coast ahead of last year’s presidential elections.
According to newspaper El Espectador, which has seen investigation documents, Petro allegedly received more than $150 thousand (COP600 million) from convicted drug trafficker Samuel Santander, a.k.a. “Marlboro Man,” and alleged mafia associate Alfonso Hilsaca, a.k.a. “The Turk.”
The president’s son allegedly didn’t forward the donation to his father’s campaign, but used the money to purchase a home and invest in businesses in the Caribbean region.
Petro’s alleged mafia associates were not arrested.
The president son dismissed the charges against him as “an unprecedented social and media lynching.”
The arrests comes amid escalating tensions between Petro and Prosecutor General Francisco Barbosa, a personal friend of far-right former President Ivan Duque.
The criminal investigation ended the ambitions of the president’s son to run for governor in Atlantico, the province of which Barranquilla is the capital.
