Laura Sarabia case: Prosecutor’s Office opened preliminary inquiry against Gustavo Petro’s chief of staff

The Prosecutor’s Office granted protection measures to the former nanny of President Gustavo Petro’s chief of staff, Marelbys Meza. Infobae/File.

The Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Laura Sarabia, will have to respond in a new process for the complaints made by her former babysitter, Marelbys Meza, who declared that she was held against her will in one of the basements of the Casa de Nariño and subjected to polygraph tests; her for being the main suspect in the theft of a suitcase with dollars.

It may interest you: Laura Sarabia reacted to the alleged kidnapping in Casa de Nariño that her ex-nanny denounced: “Protocols were applied within the framework of the law”

The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation confirmed on Wednesday, May 31, that it opened a preliminary investigation against the official, and other officials to be determined, because it considers the alleged irregularities registered when submitting Meza to said test; when it is a requirement that does not apply to ordinary citizens, but to State servants.

The disciplinary control entity stated in its decision that, although it was possible to identify one of the possible offenders of the law with this conduct, “it is necessary to carry out a preliminary investigation in order to identify other servers who could participate in the facts”.

It may interest you: Journalist denounced having been detained by men in civilian clothes in the Casa de Nariño: he was investigating complaints against Laura Sarabia

According to the Attorney General’s Office, the fact that is the subject of the investigation occurred on January 30, 2023, when officials who were apparently part of Sarabia’s security scheme took Meza to the facilities of the Luis Carlos Galán building of the Casa de Nariño, located in the center of Bogotá, to establish if he had participated in the aforementioned robbery.

“The Public Ministry requested the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic (DAPRE) a copy of the existing protocol for carrying out the polygraph test, as well as informing who is obliged to take it and in what events and the data of the officials who performed it. that test to Mrs. Marelbys Meza”, the entity specified.

Similarly, the Attorney General’s Office asked the Attorney General’s Office to report whether Sarabia reported to the investigative body the theft of money suffered in his apartment: of which he said amounted to 7,000 dollars, approximately $28 million; Contrary to the version of Marelbys Meza, which indicated that the content was $150 million.

The opening of the investigation by the Attorney General’s Office is known on the day that the Colombian ambassador in Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, came up against the accusations that speak of an alleged blackmail on his part against Sarabia, through Meza: that he also She was his domestic employee, but at the time he fired on suspicion of another robbery.

It may interest you: “The only entity that can carry out investigations is the Prosecutor’s Office,” Francisco Barbosa warned about the case of the former babysitter who worked for Laura Sarabia

The foregoing, after the revelations made by the journalist Daniel Coronell, who in a journalistic report mentioned the closeness between Marelbys Meza and the diplomat, and that the woman would have been part of the plot planned by Benedetti against the head of Petro’s Cabinet; who was part of its Legislative Work Unit (UTL).

“It is very clear that I did not build any conspiracy. It is Marelbyss, through a friend, who begins to look for the media. My ‘sin’ is knowing that it was going to be published and I kept quiet (SIC)”.

According to Benedetti, it is Sarabia who is looking for him, given suspicions that the issue of money stolen from his home came to light, about some money of which the exact amount or its origin is not clear; even though the official stressed that they were resources from travel expenses abroad.

The ambassador in Colombia in Venezuela, Armando Benedetti. Photo Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/REUTERS

“At that time, the problem for Sarabia is that the amount of money or the flow of cash that was in his house was revealed,” Benedetti replied.

“It is clear in the chat and that I myself sent Daniel Coronell that Laura Sarabia is the one who first tells me about Marelbys and from there I call Vicky (Dávila). That is to say, it is she who informs me that Marelbys spoke with Vicky and tells me that she is going to appear in (Magazine) Week. Why did she know? Does she shoot? ”, Added the ambassador in his statement.

In this regard, officials from the Prosecutor’s Office carried out a raid on Tuesday, May 30, at the premises of the Casa de Nariño, in a judicial proceeding that lasted 11 hours and included the collection of videos from the security cameras of the headquarters of the Head of State, as well as the records of the polygraph test carried out on Meza.

Source