The Colombian Public Prosecutor’s Office has taken a new turn in the criminal operation against Nicolas Petro Burgos, the eldest son of President Gustavo Petro, by requesting a security measure in a prison institution for his alleged participation in a corruption network related to elderly care contracts in the Atlantic.
The request was made by the prosecutor in the case, Lucie Marcela Laborde, during a hearing before the 14th Municipal Criminal Court for the Control of Guarantees in Barranquilla.
You can now follow us Facebook And in our WhatsApp channel
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Petro Burgos had been involved in irregularities linked to the Social Conscience Foundation, an entity that manages contracts with the Atlantico government.
In this context, the indictment panel charged him with five crimes: embezzlement by means of appropriation, exploitation of private influence, forgery of a public document, forgery of a private document, and unlawful interest in implementing contracts.
Prosecutor Laborde indicated that there was He said that the discrepancies in the former representative’s biography and in his income tax return are aspects that, he said, reinforce the need to impose a measure that restricts freedom.
During the investigation, the Prosecutor revealed a fact that she considers particularly serious: that on September 10, 2025, the day on which Petro Burgos appointed the lawyer Alejandro Carranza as defense counsel, a person unrelated to the Prosecution had accessed the computer system of the Prosecutor’s Office and obtained “confidential and privileged” information about the file before the indictment hearing.
Laborde said the anomaly was immediately reported to his superiors and that it showed a potential risk to the safety of the operation.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office explained that on September 10, at 6:00 p.m., a power of attorney signed by Pietro Burgos was entered into the file, although it had not yet been officially linked to that criminal news. This authority was introduced in various judicial offices, but not before his office.
Laborde asserted that it was “remarkable” that Petro knew the exact number of the file, information he classified as “privileged, classified and off-limits to the public.”
To support his statement, he revealed that on the same day, at 8:00 AM, Spoa’s systems logged an outsider into several files of the parent process, allowing access to internal data in the file.
“A person who does not belong to the organization cannot log in to find out the numbers of the files filed against him. Only with the file number can he obtain some information, not all of it.”The prosecutor announced, adding that the incident had been brought before the Attorney General and her functional superiors.
According to the official, everything indicates that Petro Burgos could have used that information to grant power to his lawyers, which would constitute a serious violation of the security of judicial systems.
In her intervention, Prosecutor Laborde detailed the reasons why, in the opinion of the Prosecution, Petro Burgos should be sent to internal detention. She started by saying:
“Your Honor, this delegate requests the imposition of the measure guaranteeing the preventive detention in a mass detention facility for Mr. Nicolás Fernando Pietro Burgos, in accordance with Article 307, letter A, of the Code of Criminal Procedure.”
He later explained that the former MP acted while fully aware of the illegality of his actions: “The accused is attributed to him and he knew what he was doing at the time he acted, as he had the ability to understand its illegality.”
Finally, the official pointed out that the evidence showed a personal interest in the contracts concluded through the Sokos Foundation and an irregular allocation of resources: “He understood that he was showing interest in those contracts concluded through the Sokos Foundation. In addition, he appropriated them for his own benefit and for the benefit of third parties – such as Desores del Carmen Vásquez Castro, Pedro Nem and Gustavo de la Cosa – from funds derived from contracts concluded between the Government of Atlantico and the Socos Foundation.