Defense of Carlos Mattos says the Prosecutor's Office “stayed” with pre-agreement money

Lawyer Omar Juan Carlos Suárez, the visible head of the legal team defending controversial businessman Carlos Mattos, assures that he will plead guilty to the second case that the prosecutor is pursuing against him but that he insists on reaching a pre-agreement to ease the penalty against his defendant.

It should be noted that the process that lawyer Suárez talks about has as its framework the favor, via bribery, of judges towards businessman Mattos. Specifically, a sum of 100 million pesos received by former civil judge Ligia del Carmen Hernández.

However, Suárez said that, despite the fact that the pre-agreement was withdrawn by the prosecutor Daniel Hernández, the deposit made by the defense remains “frozen” in the account of the special estate fund of the Attorney General's Office and that, he assures, the prosecutor “did not want to return”.

In context | Prosecutor's Office officially withdrew before the judge the pre-agreement with businessman Carlos Mattos - Infobae

Attorney Suárez insists that the Prosecutor's Office instituted the pre-agreement with his defendant of one million dollars as compensation without support, of which $991,075,000 has already been issued, a figure that, he argues, remains in the accounts of the prosecutor.

What is coming for this case is the reading of the sentence, scheduled for April 22, by Judge 30 of Knowledge of Bogotá. According to reports, the Prosecutor's Office requested seven years and five months; on the other hand, the defense of Mattos seeks to make it less than five years that the businessman must pay, given that he will only be convicted of two of the four crimes attributed to him by the prosecutor.

In context: Why is Carlos Mattos tried in Colombia

It should be noted that the businessman has been investigated since 2016 when Hyundai's head office in Korea broke relations after 25 years with the automotive company in Colombia, of which he was its representative on national territory. The businessman took on a legal battle in which, shortly after, irregularities were warned, which he himself confirmed in public hearings this year, after being extradited from Spain.

For the Prosecutor's Office, the businessman's action had no other purpose than to direct the lawsuit filed by Hyundai Colombia Automotriz S.A. against Hyundai Motor Company of the Republic of Korea to a specific firm and thus delay the case any further.

Mattos's judicial process began when he was residing in Spain. The businessman stayed for several years in the European country because he has nationality of that country. However, this was not an impediment to the Office of the Prosecution moving forward with its investigative process. The former Hyundai representative in Colombia was requested on more than one occasion by the Colombian justice system. The authorities even asked for virtual hearings to be held, but he never appeared, so the prosecution decided to move forward with the file.

For his part, lawyer Suárez said that the interest of Carlos Mattos is that the process should be concluded as soon as possible and that it should not be delayed any longer, but he feels that there would be no guarantees for the investigation that will be carried out soon. He also pointed out that his client intends to acknowledge his responsibility in the Hyundai investigation and that the economic redress be implemented and that Mattos will therefore obtain a reduction of sentence.

KEEP READING: