Son of Colombian president arrested on money laundering charges

The Colombian attorney general's office announced in a statement on Sunday that the president of Colombia's son has been detained as part of a probe into money laundering and illegal enrichment.

In early March, the attorney general's office opened an investigation into Nicolas Petro, a congressman from the Atlantico province.

The investigation was opened on suspicions that Petro had accepted money from drug dealers in exchange for including them in his father's efforts to mediate peace talks with criminal groups in the Caribbean.

Petro previously refuted the allegations, calling them nothing more than political and personal attacks meant to discredit the achievements of his career, he said in a statement on March 2, CNN reported.

Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, expressed his "hurt" at learning of his son's arrest but promised that the legal process would be followed in the case's prosecution.

“As a person and a father, so much self-destruction and the fact that one of my children goes to jail hurts me a lot. As President of the Republic, I assure that the prosecution has all the guarantees on my part to proceed in accordance with the law,” Petro wrote in his official Twitter account on Saturday.

Petro continued by wishing his son "luck and strength" and reiterating his resolve not to interfere with the legal proceedings or exert pressure on the attorney general.

The investigation was then welcomed by the president, who asked the attorney general to look into the claims made against his son.

Daysuris del Carmen Vásquez Castro, Nicolas Petro's ex-wife, was also the subject of an arrest warrant, "for the crimes of money laundering and violation of personal data for events that occurred from 2022 to date," according to a statement released on Saturday by the attorney general's office.

“Those captured will be placed at the disposal of a Municipal Criminal Judge with the Function of Guarantee Control, who will be asked to impart legality to the search, capture and seizure procedures of material elements of evidence.

"In the same way, charges will be made for the aforementioned crimes and a measure restricting freedom will be requested,” the statement said.