If she did not justify the origin of the millionaire sum that was found in an airport in that Caribbean country, the senator for the Historical Pact would face an investigation for alleged money laundering. To date, the congresswoman has given three different versions of what happened
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In the image, the elected senator for the Historical Pact, Piedad Córdoba. Photo: Colprensa – Álvaro Tavera
On the night of Friday, May 27, the first images of the senator for the Historical Pact, Piedad Córdoba, were revealed after landing at the El Dorado International Airport, in Bogotá,after she was provisionally detained at the Palmerola airport, in Comayagua (Honduras), for carrying 68,000 dollars without having declared them.
In the images, known By Noticias Caracol, the senator-elect can be seen walking through the El Dorado airport with those who, apparently, would be members of her security team. Hours before, through her Twitter account, Córdoba had already announced that he was already traveling back to Colombia, in order to be able to exercise his right to vote.
“To all the human rights organizations of Honduras and to all the organizations of women starting with the platform #25DeNoviembre, thank you for your solidarity and accompaniment. I am going back to my country to exercise my right to vote, “the congresswoman wrote on her social network.
It should be remembered that, during the previous 48 hours, the senator for the Historical Pact had been provisionally detained by the Honduran authorities at the Palmerola airportafter a security official detected in an X-ray machine 19 bundles of US dollars that had not been declared at the international dock, this was learned by the Investigative Unit of the newspaper El Tiempo.
Piedad Córdoba Returned To Colombia After Being Detained In Honduras
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“Córdoba has been detained for investigation”: Honduran Migration
The detention was confirmed by the Honduran National Migration Institute at 8:49 p.m. last Wednesday May 25 through a statement published on their official channels, in which they announced that the senator had been “provisionally detained for investigation for the possession of approximately 68 thousand US dollars that were not declared ”.
Once she was detained to explain to the Honduran authorities the origin of the money, El Tiempo learned that the congresswoman elected by the Historical Pact warned from the outset that she was not going to let such requests cause that he missed the flight he had scheduled from Honduras to Panama, to travel from there to Colombia.
Official statement from the Institute National Immigration Office of Honduras on the detention of Piedad Córdoba. Photo: Honduran National Migration Institute
However, Senator Córdoba’s air travel was not an impediment for the authorities to provisionally detain her at the Honduran airport and question her about the events. According to the Bogota newspaper, the congresswoman was held by the Honduran Financial Police from that Wednesday night until around 5:00 in the afternoon of this Friday, May 27.
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Three versions and an investigation for alleged money laundering
During the interrogation of Córdoba by agents of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime (Fescco ), the versions delivered by the senator for the Historical Pact were three in total, all confused and different from one another, as sources from the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to the Honduran newspaper ‘El Heraldo ‘.
“In her first version, she said that the money was from a Colombian businessman residing in Tegucigalpa, the second version was that she did not know he was carrying the money and the third is that the resources are part of the payment of a consultancy,” the source said. court -who preferred to keep his identity confidential- to the same outlet.
The statement of the judicial source was confirmed in the minutes of the case that were known by the newspaper El Tiempo and, in which also appears that The Colombian congresswoman was aware that she could only take 10,000 dollars out of Honduras and, if the amount was greater, she had to declare it, a procedure that she omitted.
In the same document also It is pointed out that Córdoba indicated that the money corresponded to the payment of a financial consultancy carried out by the Colombian businessman, Mauricio Sánchez, who currently resides in Tegucigalpa (capital of Honduras). However, according to the Bogota newspaper, this version -the third delivered by the congresswoman- caught the attention of the Honduran authorities because the money was being attributed to a labor matter when, according to a statement issued by the Presidency of Honduras, the Colombian politician was visiting the Caribbean country, in order to “participate in activities of various women’s and human rights organizations.”.
The question that remains in the air: what will happen to the senator now?
Piedad Córdoba was arrested 48 hours in Honduras. Photos: Colprensa
Through her Twitter account, the lawyer also assured that what happened at the airport in Honduras it was a “misunderstanding” and that it would be a “persecution” against her . “Thank you Colombia and our America for so much solidarity. The persecution does not stop but the truth prevails. Overcome the misunderstanding in Honduras”, wrote the congresswoman for the Historical Pact.
Next, the senator thanked the Colombian Foreign Ministry for dealing with the case, as well as the Honduran authorities for carrying out the appropriate “legal procedures.” “I especially thank Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez and Consul Michel Carrillo for his support and attention in this impasse (…) To the authorities of the brotherly Honduran people, I thank the due process for the legal procedures of the case and its timely resolution”, tweeted Córdoba to later report what was back in Colombia.
Although the Colombian politician was released, the investigation against her by the Honduran authorities remains in force. This was confirmed to the magazine Semana by the spokesman for the Public Ministry of that country, Yuri Mora, who indicated that the process to determine the origin of the money from Córdoba could last a maximum of 30 days, period in which the Honduran Prosecutor’s Office will present a report, and Córdoba must justify the origin of said funds. If you don’t, The congresswoman could go to trial for alleged money laundering.
For its part, the Honduran National Migration Institute reported that the Colombian businessman, Mauricio Sánchez, “is being summoned by the Honduran State Attorney General’s Office to give his statement and to follow the legal procedure corresponding”.
The case of Piedad Córdoba caused such a stir in Honduras that even the Honduran National Partyrequested that The origin of the 68,000 dollars is investigated, and yes these would be destined to finance the campaign of the current candidate for the Presidency of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, by the Honduran Government, as reported by the newspaper El Tiempo .
“That it be established whether the Government is financing the campaign of leftist Gustavo Petro with money from the Honduran people”, requested the caucus of the Honduran National Party, according to the Bogota newspaper.
To date, Piedad Córdoba is found was confiscated and left in the hands of the Honduran authorities.