The Fiscalía General de la Nación will present a third charge against Laura Sarabia, former head of cabinet, former director of Dapre, and former ambassador to the United Kingdom, in the case of her former employee, Marelbys Meza. The new charge, peculado, will be added to the existing charges of abuso de función pública and constreñimiento ilegal agravado.
This decision comes after a last attempt at a settlement between the Fiscalía and Sarabia’s defense failed. The defense had sought to resolve the case before the upcoming hearing, scheduled for 9:00 a.m. at the Centro de Servicios Judiciales de Paloquemao in Bogotá.
Background of the case
The case dates back to January 2023, when Sarabia reported the disappearance of cash and documents from her apartment, where Meza worked as a nanny for her son. Sarabia claimed that the incident should be treated as a matter of national security, as some of the missing documents were related to the security of former President Gustavo Petro.
However, the legal process against Sarabia began when Meza was taken from her residence in Soacha to the Casa Galán, the intelligence headquarters, for a polygraph test without a judicial order. It was later revealed that security agents assigned to Sarabia had requested the Fiscalía to intercept Meza’s and another employee’s phones, falsely linking them to the Clan del Golfo to justify the measure.
This led to a second line of investigation into illegal interceptions, which in turn led to other parallel legal processes. One notable case is that of Colonel Carlos Alberto Feria, former head of the Oficina de Protección Presidencial, who was accused of the same three crimes: peculado por uso, abuso de función pública, and constreñimiento ilegal, for ordering Meza’s transfer to the Casa Galán.
Captain Óscar Leandro Mujica, former head of the Sijín’s residential theft group in Bogotá, obtained a principle of opportunity in exchange for testifying in several of these processes. The agreement suspended the investigation into his alleged violación ilícita de comunicaciones for 12 months, but did not affect the process he faces for fraude procesal, falsedad ideológica, and falsedad material.
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The inclusion of the peculado charge is not new to the case, as it had been considered in previous stages of the investigation due to the victims’ representation insisting that the Fiscalía should incorporate it as one of the most serious crimes.
Sarabia’s case will now proceed with the added charge of peculado. The upcoming hearing is scheduled to take place at the Centro de Servicios Judiciales de Paloquemao in Bogotá.
Meza’s transfer to the Casa Galán was a key event in the case. It led to further investigations and the accusation of Colonel Carlos Alberto Feria.
The case involves several individuals and charges.
The investigation has been ongoing since January 2023.
