Federal judge José Rivas González postponed until March 8 the hearing in which the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) seeks to charge a group of lawyers allegedly linked to the former legal adviser to the Presidency of the Republic, Julio Scherer Ibarra, whom the litigant Juan Collado accuses of extorting him to process his release from prison.
In a bumpy and delayed hearing, the judge determined that the lawyers in question they must appear in person at the Federal Criminal Justice Center of the North Prison. The judge made that decision after the FGR indicated that there is a risk of flight.
The lawyers whom the FGR seeks to charge are Juan Antonio Araujo Rivapalacio, César Omar González Hernández, Isaac Pérez Rodríguez and David Gómez Arnau.
Collado, detained since 2019, denounced them and accused them of demanding his company, Caja Libertad, and 2 billion pesos in exchange for helping him get out of prison. According to Collado, for this they argued a supposed closeness with former counselor Scherer.
Lee: Collado denounces that Scherer and allied lawyers asked him for his company and 2 thousand million pesos to go free
During the hearing, the prosecutor Manuel Granados told the judge that the crimes that will be charged to the lawyers will exceed 40 years in prison and announced that it is likely that the FGR will request justified preventive detention against them.
The defense attorneys of Araujo, González, Pérez and Gómez Arnau —who were connected to the hearing by videoconference— accused the FGR of having leaked information from the file to the media and of having given them partial and incomplete information. Prosecutors responded that such arguments were a delaying practice.
On more than 10 occasions, the lawyers interrupted not only the prosecutors but even the judge. In one of those interruptions, defense attorney Rosa Gabriela González Pulido asked the judge to postpone the hearing even longer, since March 8 is International Women’s Day.
Annoyed, the judge denied that request. He replied to the lawyer that this was not a non-business day and reiterated that she was already granting an extension and it would be the last.
And then, addressing the press directly, the judge said: “This gown is not for sale or intimidation. Let that be clear.”
Another of the defense attorneys also asked the FGR to reveal whether Collado had already obtained any legal benefits or a reparation agreement after denouncing Scherer. The judge replied that this was not the time to make such requests.
At the hearing, the judge asked the four defendants, who were in different places connected by the internet, to answer a phone call on a landline number that they had previously been asked to provide to ensure that they were in Mexico City.
One of them, Gómez Arnau, identified as a supposed operator of Scherer, could not do it because he said that his internet had no telephone line, but he sent his geolocation to show that he was in CDMX. This upset prosecutors, who said there was no guarantee these people were actually in the capital.
An exchange of accusations then took place between the parties. Prosecutor Granados even pointed out that Araujo’s defender, attorney Diego Madrazo, was not reliable because in the past he had illegally broadcast Alonso Ancira’s hearing over the internet when he led his defense.
Lee: AMLO denies that Scherer’s departure from his government was related to the Collado case
While that discussion was taking place, Collado was present in the courtroom, wearing dress pants and a khaki jacket. Although he did not make any statement, at various times he turned his head in a gesture of disagreement with the statements made by the lawyers allegedly linked to Scherer.
Finally, the judge had to call to order on several occasions and reiterated to the parties that on March 8 they must be present in person. All without exception.
He asked the FGR to deliver all the test data that is in the file so that it is not argued again that information is missing. He asked one of the defense attorneys, Francisco Auteo Castro, to analyze whether he is not in a possible conflict of interest because he was initially a lawyer for Collado and now represents the lawyer Isaac Pérez Rodríguez, one of the defendants.
One of the data revealed during the hearing is that in the investigation folder there are 400 screenshots of WhatsApp conversations between Collado’s children and Helen Castillo, Scherer’s assistant.
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