This network created sophisticated companies in shopping centers in Bogotá and other cities in the country and laundered more than $885,000 million.
Agents from the Attorney General’s Office and Interpol dismantled the largest money laundering network of the ELN that for 20 years outwitted the authorities and laundered money from drug trafficking and illegal gold mining for more than 885,000 million pesos.
Within the framework of these operations it was possible to capture six of the members of this criminal structure in Colombia and two more in Argentina.
It was established that this money laundering network has been committing crimes, at least since 2005, in the departments of Arauca, Norte de Santander, Casanare, Nariño, Amazonas and Cundinamarca, and in the city of Bogotá.
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“In Argentina, Harold Ronnie Ardila Urbina and Mayerly Zulay Arévalo were captured, who would be linked to the coordination of banking correspondents and companies used to launder the illicit resources of the ELN”explained the researchers.
The specialized director against Money Laundering, Sandra Mesa, reported that in the course of the operations, 59 gold bars were seized for confiscation purposes that would exceed in value 32,000 million pesos, 563 million pesos in cash, 22,805 dollars and accounting books of multiple companies.
The evidence revealed that this network promoted mass operations by banking correspondents in Arauquita and Bogotá. In this way, it transferred 685,000 million pesos to different parts of the country hiding its illicit origin.
“A large part of the payments identified in the course of the investigation allegedly were carried out by Venezuelan citizens and surpassed in value the limits established by the financial authorities,” indicated the Prosecutor’s Office.
It was also established that those captured created five front companies that reported activities in the telecommunications, construction, agriculture and air services sectors, among others, to give the appearance of legality to a sum estimated at 83.5 billion pesos.
“The network created four paper companies to issue fictitious invoices, which simulated the marketing of vehicles, the purchase and sale of medicines and the construction of engineering works, which served to transit approximately 2,770 million pesos“added the Prosecutor’s Office.
Simultaneously, prosecutors from the Specialized Directorate for Extinction of Property Rights imposed precautionary measures of suspension of the dispositive power, embargo and kidnapping on 33 urban and 10 rural assets, 4 companies, 22 vehicles and 23 commercial establishments, preliminarily valued at 37,000 million pesos.
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The specialized director of Extinction of Domain Rights, Iván Caro, reported that these assets were occupied in operations carried out in Cundinamarca, Arauca, Norte de Santander, Casanare, Nariño and Amazonas.
Source: Integrated Information System
