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Last Thursday, March 25, a trial judge sentenced former magistrate Francisco Ricaurte to 19 years in prison for having belonged to a corruption network that distorted judicial processes in the Supreme Court of Justice. For the court there is no doubt that Ricaurte was part of the corruption scandal known as Cartel de la Toga.
Through a 194-page ruling, the 10th Criminal Court of Bogotá reported all the situations and testimonies that led to the conclusion that the former president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Francisco Ricaurte, was part of a criminal organization dedicated to committing crimes against the administration of justice. The office sentenced Ricaurte to 19 years and two months in prison for conspiracy to commit a crime, bribery, influence peddling and improper use of official privileged information.
The judge accredited Ricaurte’s responsibility in the notorious scandal that became known as the “toga cartel”, a corruption case whose protagonists were magistrates and lawyers dedicated to twisting files, especially of politicians, in exchange for millionaire sums of money. For the firm, more than a member, Ricaurte was the leader of the corruption network and his defense could not prove otherwise.
The court gave full credibility to the testimony of Luis Gustavo Moreno, the former anti-corruption prosecutor who returned to the country after serving a sentence in the United States, signed a principle of opportunity with the Prosecutor’s Office and has committed to the country to tell the truth and everything what you know about the corruption network in which you participated. These are the six main conclusions reached by the judge to conclude the responsibility of Ricaurte and the direct intent (intention) with which he acted.
1. The existence of the Toga Poster was proven
For the judge, it was fully proven that a criminal organization did exist to commit crimes against the public administration in which several acts were carried out aimed at “hindering the normal functioning of the processes under investigation (Supreme Court magistrate) Gustavo Malo and (the delegate of the Prosecutor’s Office for the Supreme Court), Alfredo Bettin Sierra ”. The objective of this organization, as confirmed by the office, was to favor its clients “under the protective mentor of its creative leader Francisco Javier Ricaurte, or those who approached said criminal organization.”
“Francisco Javier Ricaurte, José Leónidas Bustos Martínez, Gustavo Malo Fernández, Luis Gustavo Moreno Rivera and occasionally, Luis Ignacio Lyons, Camilo Ruiz, Camilo Tarquino, Alfredo Bettin Sierra were arranged, demonstrating Excellence and its members of the criminal organization, not only with the direct testimony of one of its members Luis Gustavo Moreno Rivera, but the corroboration of his allegations with other direct witnesses for the prosecution, ”the court affirmed in the conviction.
The office affirmed that Ricaurte’s defense failed to prove his innocence, nor the non-existence of the toga cartel, nor did it manage to distort the credibility of the entire arsenal of evidence that the Prosecutor’s Office brought to trial, the modus operandi of the criminal organization. , how it was integrated and the roles that each one of them fulfilled, the prices that were paid for the acts of corruption, circumstances of time and place, where they met, how the money was collected and its distribution among the members of the organization. (You may be interested: This is how the toga poster looks after the conviction of former magistrate Francisco Ricaurte)
“Facts that were carried out with full knowledge, not only of those who made up the criminal organization but also the alleged clients, all this criminal network was duly demonstrated and proven by the Prosecutor’s Office with the means of proof legally produced and practiced in oral proceedings, on which the office has given them full credibility ”, determined the judge.
2. Ricaurte was the head of the Toga Cartel
According to the judge, Ricaurte was the one who got the clients, established the price conditions to be charged, the form of payment, the distribution of the money. “It has been known within the process that whoever got clients, set the rate or the value and the modus operandi was Ricaurte Gómez, its leader and, as Luis Gustavo Moreno Rivera says, the one who invented this,” said the office.
3. The defense failed to delegitimize the testimony of Luis Gustavo Moreno
For the 10th Criminal Court of Bogotá, the attempt made by Ricaurte’s defense to delegitimize the testimony of Luis Gustavo Moreno, describing it as false, a liar and observing a pattern of falsehood protected by a principle of opportunity to save a few years in prison , was unsuccessful. According to the judge, the defense did not stop for a moment to detail that this witness was already convicted in the United States and is serving another sentence in Colombia. In addition, that he was disciplined and faces a process of extinction of domain.
The office indicated that what Moreno has said about being sorry and asking for forgiveness from society and his family “gives an added sincerity and credibility to his testimony, it was also corroborated with the other evidence for the prosecution and defense, there are no contradictions or Inconsistencies in statements made at trial, or those made previously in the prosecution, supreme court of justice, criminal chamber and before the commission of accusations of the House of Representatives, what can be seen is that they are coincident and convergent, ”he stressed. (Related article: “This trial has only been a media show”: defense of Francisco Ricaurte)
In that sense, the office denied what was alleged by Ricaurte’s defense that Moreno’s arguments were contradicted internally and externally, and that his knowledge was flawed because when he was writing his scripts and before giving his first statement before the Prosecutor’s Office and then in the Supreme Court he was contaminated with the radio and television news, which reported the scandal of the toga poster. “It cannot lead to an inferential legal logical reasoning that the only corrupt person is Luis Gustavo Moreno and the others involved, such as Ricaurte, are victims of an astute and audacious lawyer who is an expert in false witnesses,” said the judge.
4. Francisco Ricaurte lied
The trial judge concluded that what Ricaurte said about the way in which he shared an office with Luis Gustavo Moreno did not happen in the way he did not narrate. He explained that the place and office where they were to function or dispatch was chosen by Ricaurte himself, after he met Moreno Rivera on the recommendation of Leonidas Bustos. That to choose the office that would work on 84th street in Bogotá, Ricaurte said that it was a very good place because almost no one went, it is a hotel and “you can easily camouflage yourself with your friends.”
The judge explained that with this approval, Luis Gustavo Moreno began to make all the stationery to rent said office, which denies the assertion by Ricaurte that Moreno already had the leased place and repeatedly offered to share that space and, He even told her that he had already paid for the first semester. The office added that Ricaurte tried to show that after having some appreciation and affection for Moreno, this faded when he shared an office, until finally an enmity arose.
However, for the court, what really arose was a “disagreement” when Luis Gustavo Moreno aspired to the Bogotá Ombudsman and that is why he decided to leave the office on 84th Street, but “without breaking his friendship with Ricaurte.” The office explained that the discord between the two arose because Ricaurte promoted Moreno with the clients of the criminal organization through book launch events and presenting him directly and that those expenses and promotion would be lost if Moreno was appointed Personero of Bogotá.
“What Ricaurte Gómez intends is to create a kind of suspicion about the testimonial credibility of Luis Gustavo Moreno, protected by his supposed enmity, which never existed, that is why Moreno Rivera in his first statements said that he had nothing against him today prosecuted, but instead came to tell the truth, therefore, Moreno’s statements have support in the exercise of corroboration with the other means of evidence analyzed and valued here ”, determined the judge who also denied the statement of José Leonidas Bustos who He stated that he never recommended Moreno to Francisco Ricaurte, with whom he also did not have a close and close relationship.
“Leonidas Bustos, Francisco Javier Ricaurte Gómez and Gustavo Malo did have a close and close friendship relationship, otherwise the criminal organization could not have been formed. In the same order of reasoning, it does not turn out to be credible or true that Leonidas Bustos did not recommend Luis Gustavo Moreno with Ricaurte Gómez (…) what is the interest of hiding the way in which Moreno Rivera began to relate to the defendant but rather it is something else to hide from the public opinion the modus operandi of that criminal organization and of course remain outside any indication of the multiple acts of corruption against the public administration and public security ”, indicated the office. (Also read: Who is Francisco Ricaurte, the former magistrate convicted today by the toga poster?)
5. Yes there was influence peddling
The judge denied the request made by the Public Ministry that the accused be acquitted for the crime of influence peddling, arguing that this crime was committed. The firm stated that if Ricaurte did not have the capacity to influence a public servant, Dr. Gustavo Malo Fernández and Dr. Alfredo Bettin would not have participated to influence the matters submitted for their consideration, in order to obtain an economic benefit. .
“Where this type of conduct can be observed with greater clarity is in the case of Carlos Abadía Campo, who Bettin grateful for the intervention of Ricaurte to remain in public office at whatever request he made, citing his apartment, to direct the investigations of the former governor of Valle del Cauca Abadía Campo. For this reason, the influence peddling behavior of individuals has been duly accredited, and Ricaurte was charged with and accused as perpetrator by way of fraud ”, he added.
6. Ricaurte acted with direct intent and full knowledge
For the office it was clear that the former magistrate acted with knowledge, will and in a free and consenting manner. “They acted with full knowledge of the illegality of the prohibited conducts, they acted contrary to said prohibitions, ignoring legal rights of vital importance for the State and Colombian society who, due to their distinguished and outstanding position, required greater restraint in their actions. ”, Indicated the court.
The Court added that Ricaurte was required to conduct his behavior in accordance with the legal and constitutional order, since “it was sufficiently enlightened to understand the scope and consequences of contracting the legal order, therefore he is subject to criminal reproach for what he did. ”. (It may interest you: Toga poster: versions found in the face of Francisco Ricaurte’s sentence)
Based on these arguments, the court decided to sentence Ricaurte to 19 years and two months in prison. The judicial official also ruled out from the outset granting him any judicial benefit such as the house for jail. Ricaurte, who attended the hearing virtually from La Picota prison in Bogotá, will also have to pay 485 minimum wages, that is, about $ 440 million. The ruling was appealed by Ricaurte’s defense before the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Bogotá.
