translated from Spanish: Judge decides that Juan Collado remain imprisoned in the North Reclusorio

Following a hearing that lasted for nearly 11 hours a federal judge of the Reclusorio Norte determined to initiate criminal proceedings against attorney Juan Collado, for his likely responsibility for crimes that organized crime and operations with resources of origin Illicit.
Judge Jesús Eduardo Velazquez Rea considered that there was sufficient initial indications to link the well-known lawyer to the process. He also imposed on him as a precautionary measure the pre-trial detention of informal detention as the crime of organized crime automatically warrants it, and gave a period of 6 months for the investigation to be completed before going to trial.
In justifying his determination, the judge considered that the Attorney General’s Office had provided initial evidence to presume that Collado was part of a well-organized criminal organization that allowed him to obtain at least 24 million pesos in 2015 proceeds from the allegedly illegal sale of land in Querétaro.
Read: Lawyer Juan Collado is detained and linked to organized crime prosecution
According to the prosecutors of the FGR this land was acquired usurping the identity of the company Operadora Inmobiliaria del Centro that owned the land, and simulating its sale to the company Libertad Sociedad Financiera, of which Collado serves as president of the Board of Directors.
The total amount of that transaction was more than 156 million pesos of which Collado would have directly received 24 million, while the remaining money would have dispersed through the financial system using natural and alleged persons ghost companies.
“This is an example of an operation that we believe was systematic and continuous in which Collado was the material author and where identities were usurped, facade companies were created or ghosted, all to divert resources from the financial society led by this person, ” the Prosecutor’s Office said at the hearing.
The money obtained through this mechanism would not only have been used for the personal benefit of those involved, the prosecutors noted. According to one witness, the resources leaving that financial company would even have been used to finance election campaigns, including that of today’s governor of Querétaro Francisco Domínguez. These events would have been done with the alleged complicity of Javier Rodríguez Borgio, known in Querétaro as the “zar of the casinos”. All this as narrated by the prosecutors.
Prosecutors revealed at the hearing that this investigation was initiated on June 7 after the complaint filed by Sergio Hugo Bustamante, one of the alleged perpetrators of identity theft. Added to this would be a complaint filed by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) just on July 4.
Read: Juan Collado, the lawyer for principals, entrepreneurs and former officials noted for corruption
It should be noted that in this same case arrest warrants were also sent against José Antonio Rico Rico, José Antonio Vargas Hernández, Roberto Isaac Rodríguez Gálvez and Tania Patricia García Ortega, all of whom were involved in the transfer of resources and the alleged theft of identities that allowed the alleged illegal acquisition of the property in Querétaro.
Defense accuses zero investigation; announces challenge
During the conduct of the hearing, Collado was accompanied by ten defense lawyers headed by Rodolfo de la Guardia and Javier López. In their intervention, the litigants questioned what they described as a “zero” investigation by the Attorney General’s Office.
The defenders noted, for example, the short time (one month) integrated the entire research folder and that it was supported only by the same whistleblower who stated five times, and in a previous open inquiry in Queretaro that he contributed although it was not part of that process, without clarifying how it got it.
Read: Financial companies and pawn shops, the business network of lawyer Juan Collado
On these questions the judge warned that these are substantive issues whose analysis will correspond to a possible trial, but that at this early stage they are not sufficient to stop the opening of the process.
In brief interview on the outside of the inmate, the lawyer Antonio Collado, brother of Juan Collado, stated that they immediately challenged the judge’s decision for a court to review the case.
Suffers from health crises in audience
During the conduct of the hearing Collado presented a health problem that was about to cause it to be suspended and transferred to a hospital.
The incident occurred shortly after 2 a.m. after the judge ordered a recess. Collado, who had been visibly annoyed by the accusations, began to take his hand to his chest and breathe with some difficulty. 
His personal cardiologist, Jorge Eduardo Aranda, who was present at the hearing, immediately reviewed it and reported to the judge that he would have suffered a possible heart involvement manifested with sweating, chest pain and slight paralysis in the left side of his face. He said studies were needed to rule out angina.
When the hearing resumed, the judge asked the lawyers if they wanted to suspend the hearing so that Collado would be reviewed but this preferred to continue after that if client stabilized.
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Original source in Spanish

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