The Office of the Attorney General obtained a detention measure against three members of a family who allegedly laundered money for more than 82 billion

Apparently, for two years, through a neighborhood supermarket, the criminal network which was allegedly made up of the people investigated, gave the appearance of legality when foreign currency of illicit origin was brought from China and Turkey. 

The Office of the Attorney General, through the Special Directorate against Money Laundering, in a joint effort with the Fiscal and Customs Police (Policía Fiscal y Aduanera Polfa) and based on intelligence reports from the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (Unidad de Información y Análisis Financiero Uiaf) obtained the arrest and prosecution of three people who allegedly committed money laundering.  

The investigation carried out under the Strategic Direction defined by the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, which considers the persecution of assets and sources that finance the criminal structures, made it possible to demonstrate that the prosecuted individuals legalized through a front company called La Buena Promesa SAS, the entry of foreign currency of illicit origin from Hong Kong (China) and Turkey, without carrying out the commercial operations that justified it. This company was allegedly involved in the wholesale trade of food products. 

The people involved are brothers Diego Fabián and Mónica Alejandra Núñez Vergel, members and founders of the alleged company that was actually a neighborhood supermarket and also, her husband Edwin Saúl García Castellanos. The Office of the Attorney General charged them with money laundering and criminal conspiracy to commit money laundering.  

The three were arrested on October 22^nd in Cúcuta (Norte de Santander) and detention measures with deprivation of liberty were issued: prison sentence for the men and home confinement for the woman. 

For almost a year, the Office of the Attorney General and Polfa have been tracking this structure whose company operated in Villa del Rosario (Norte de Santander); However, it was possible to stablish that its main activity was not related to the foreign exchange operations that were proved between September 2016 and June 2017 regarding the entry of foreign currency for a value of USD 28’064,126, equivalent for the time to COP $ 82,560’560,690.   

In addition, the authorities determined that La Buena Promesa SAS did not have records of trade operations related to imports and exports to justify the income of said amounts.  

It should be noted that all the money received in the company´s checking account was apparently transferred through 428 checks in favor of third parties with limited resources, who were not suppliers or clients, so it is believed that those withdrawals were not intended for its corporate purpose, but to give the appearance of legality to the illicit resources upon entering Colombia. 

The investigators also found that a single person carried out 222 transactions in two years with withdrawals worth COP $ 45,710 million, while another did so for COP $ 17,525 million. 

The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.