[ad_1]
Mercedes Arroyave Ardila is a Paisa lawyer who has key information about the process followed by the former president Alvaro Uribe Velez for alleged bribery of witnesses and procedural fraud.
The Supreme Court He summoned her to testify since September 2019 and although she never appeared before the high court, she ended up being mentioned 20 times in the formulation of charges and an assurance measure against the former president.
(We invite you to read: They order to reveal audios and chats of 7 SIM cards of witness against Uribe)
Mercedes Arroyave, a key lawyer in the investigation against Álvaro Uribe.
The Prosecutor’s Office has also failed to make him appear for an interview in one of the most sensitive cases in the country’s judicial history, which involves the man who ruled it for 8 years, influenced the election of his two successors and now moves political strings, ahead of the presidential elections in 2021.
(You may be interested: Controversy by prosecutor’s order to hear alias ‘el Tuso’ in Uribe case)
On March 6, the deadline for the prosecutor Gabriel Jaimes Decide whether to file an accusation against Uribe or ask for the case to be closed.
In fact, in recent months, it has been repeating and expanding evidence already collected by the Court and introducing material evidence that has unleashed a political and judicial storm, as a preamble to the final decision, which will undoubtedly impact the political and judicial country.
(Also: The new evidence that is appearing in the Uribe case)
As anticipated by EL TIEMPO, in the middle of the week a judge gave four cell phone companies 15 days to deliver all the text messages, contact list and incoming and outgoing calls, linked to the seven Sim Cards that were seized from Juan Guillermo Monsalve, the star witness of the case, to whom the Court gave credibility and protection.
This is one of the permits in which it is recorded that the lawyer Arroyave entered the prisons together with Iván Cepeda.
What does Arroyave know?
And last Thursday, he was finally heard on videoconference Juan Carlos ‘el Tuso’ Sierra. This is the ex-boyfriend who claims to have received offers of asylum and help from Ivan cepeda Y Pietà Cordoba, in exchange for declaring against Uribe, a testimony that the defense of the ex-president, headed by the criminal lawyer Jaime Granados, he had insistently asked the Court.
Juan Carlos the ‘Tuso’ Sierra.
Now, they are trying to locate the lawyer Arroyave, whose freshest trace EL TIEMPO found in Yopal (Casanare), far from her surroundings.
The woman is key for investigators because she appears entering several prisons, in the company of the senator Ivan cepeda and his bodyguards, to conduct interviews with detainees whose names later appeared in the file against Uribe.
In fact, Arroyave was empowered by Monsalve and Pablo Hernán Sierra, the same one who said that the Uribe family were alleged co-founders of the Metro block of the Auc.
(It may be of interest to you: Prosecutor’s Office prepares decision in the case of Álvaro Uribe and ordered 100 tests)
For the defense of the former president, she is an exceptional witness of the irregular activities carried out by Cepeda in the search for false witnesses against Uribe, in exchange for judicial benefits.
The Supreme Court also considered it important to listen to attorney Arroyave. He cited her but never appeared.
Cepeda – a victim in the case – told EL TIEMPO that it is clear that the Prosecutor’s Office is twisting the investigation, leaving aside the accused (Uribe), investigating him and the witness Monsalve and “seeking impunity for Uribe.”
And he added that the last he heard from the lawyer who accompanied him to various prisons is that he had received serious threats against him.
Rifirrafe
“Prosecutor Jaimes dismissed a file with a solid body of evidence. They gave a 180-degree turn to the case under a sui generis legal theory that it shares with the defense and that destroys the criminal system: it consists in that the evidence collected by the Court, under Law 600, is only valid for the volumetric and when passing the Prosecutor’s Office loses value and validity”, Explained Cepeda
(In answer: In the crosshairs, magistrate who put Álvaro Uribe on the ropes)
And about his meeting with ‘el Tuso’ Sierra, he remembered that Manuel Retureta, the lawyer for the ex-mine in Miami, was present and has said that if something irregular had been asked of his client, he would have had to report it to the American prosecutors.
Gabriel Ramón Jaimes Durán, prosecutor in the Uribe case.
The Sim Cards, whose content is not yet known, also pits the parties.
Cepeda’s lawyer stated in the legalization hearing that the chain of custody of said material had been broken. And Monsalve anticipated the results of the review of the mini-cards saying that the Prosecutor’s Office can mount it.
(Also: Cepeda is denounced for alleged destruction of chats in Uribe case)
But for Granados it is clear that in the Sim Cards there may be relevant data that confirms that Monsalve he is a lying witness and the full innocence of his client. In addition, he says that statements by those involved on the subject show the nervousness that the truth is known.
The oversight
In the midst of this scuffle, a citizen oversight is now being promoted, made up of political leaders and members of the academy, who have already asked the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa, for guarantees in the case.
(On the subject: The war that will prolong the case against Álvaro Uribe after his freedom)
“We share the concern of Senator Cepeda, recognized as a victim in the process, due to the lack of guarantees offered by prosecutor Jaimes, the lack of knowledge of the evidence already practiced by the highest court of criminal justice in Colombia and the attempt to divert the investigation towards the main witness in this case ”, says a letter sent to Barbosa.
Juan Guillermo Monsalve said that he fears that they will make him a montage with the Sim Cards.
And 48 hours ago, without mentioning Uribe, the Prosecutor’s Office went out to “make a call to the different sectors of civil society to respect judicial independence and autonomy, essential principles in the consolidation of a democratic state.”
Similarly, he urged that the processes in charge of the entity be resolved in law.
And it was revealed that the prosecutor Jaimes (like the lawyer Arroyave) has received threats, which have increased in recent days.
Despite this call, it is certain that before a decision on the merits is made, the case will continue to generate controversy.
EL TIEMPO established that the Supreme Court is already reviewing the guardianship that seeks that Uribe is not prosecuted as a defendant. And it is not ruled out that he makes a decision before March 6.
(Check here all the articles of the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO)
For now, prosecutor Jaimes is also trying to locate Monsalve’s wife, the third threatened in this plot.
Diego Cadena, Uribe’s former attorney, prosecuted for alleged bribery of witnesses and procedural fraud.
Deyanira Gómez, the other threatened
The Prosecutor’s Office also seeks to hear a statement from Deyanira Gómez, the ex-wife of Juan Guillermo Monsalve, within the process that Álvaro Uribe is being followed.
She testified how attorney Diego Cadena, then attorney-in-fact for the former president, pressured them and made offers for Monsalve to change his version of the Uribe’s.
In fact, he recorded one of the conversations with Cadena.
(You may be interested: The strategy of Cadena, Uribe’s former lawyer, to be free)
But, according to a confidential El Espectador, it could not be located by the prosecutor Gabriel Jaimes team either.
Those close to the case assures that they do not understand why Jaimes insists on repeating tests that the Supreme Court has already carried out. In addition, they claim that Deyanira Gómez was also threatened, harassed, and even fired from her job. Therefore, he had to ask for protection and then asylum.
However, for the defense of the former president, the now ex-wife of the star witness have much to explain. Among other things, Monsalve’s link with the farm he acquired in Risaralda.
Versions indicate that the property would have been given to Monsalve as payment for his testimonies. In fact, it is believed that in the seven Sim Cards that relationship may appear that the doctor Deyanira Gómez has categorically denied in several interviews.
Within that chapter appeared an intelligence officer close to the woman, whom she places as a childhood friend, but who would have had a key role in the story behind the farm.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
[email protected]
@UinvestigativaET
