From Plaintiff to Defender: The Lawyer Who Now Represents President Gustavo Petro

Bogotá, 4 Aug. (COLPRENSA) –

– The lawyer Mauricio Pava Lugo went from being the plaintiff a decade ago against the then mayor of Bogotá Gustavo Petro, to defending today the head of state in the eventual cases that arise against him, after the statements made by the Prosecutor’s Office about the alleged income of irregular money to his campaign, within the framework of the accusation for money laundering and illicit enrichment against his eldest son, Nicolás Petro.

The current defender of the president is a co-judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, has his own law firm, Mauricio Pava L. Abogados and Pava & Díaz Arana Abogados, is a graduate of the University of Caldas, a specialist in Criminal Cassation and a member of the Colombian Institute of Law Procedural.

It is also part of the Criminal Policy Advisory Commission, a consultative body that presents concepts to the Ministry of Justice and the Higher Council for Criminal Policy on criminal matters. Justice Minister Néstor Osuna appointed him in January of this year along with Rodrigo Uprimny and eight other academics.

*PAVA VS PETRO, A CONTROVERSY OVERCOME*

Ten years ago, when Gustavo Petro was mayor of Bogotá, Pava denounced him for prevarication, after the issuance of his land use plan by decree, due to the refusal of approval by the Council.

Parallel to the lawsuit at the administrative level and a statement of charges from the Attorney General’s Office, Mauricio Pava represented at that time organizations and builders who considered that the decree harmed the citizens of Bogotá.

We hope that protection measures will be taken at the next hearing so that within three months the administrative authorities will resolve the lawsuits filed and make a final decision. Given this, we want the granting of licenses to be suspended while the POT is in force and that it will cost the city enormous resources, Pava argued in September 2013.

The lawyer maintained that the decree of the Mayor’s Office was different from the POT that he presented to the Council, and criticized the president for missing the proceedings.

I believe that the higher the hierarchy of the senior official should be the example of compliance with the calls of justice, he stressed and said that he was going to ask for everything from fines to arrest so that the then mayor could appear.

That investigation against Petro was archived by the Luis Eduardo Montealegre Prosecutor’s Office in 2014.

The Prosecutor’s Office decided that there was no criminal conduct or any type of prevarication by the mayor and his actions were in accordance with the law, said the investigative body.

The POT was suspended in 2013 by the Council of State and declared void in 2019. That same year, the Prosecutor’s Office reopened the investigation on its own, but no longer for prevarication, but for abuse of public function.

*MAURICIO PAVA AND ARMANDO BENEDETTI*

Pava has been a lawyer for the former ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti. While the former senator was an official in that country, Pava told Caracol Radio that he did not accept any client who sought legal advice to invest there.

Pava’s clarification came because Semana released an advertorial in which the firm Pava & Díaz Arana Abogados gave recommendations to “comply with the regulations governing the neighboring country”, Venezuela. Given the suspicions, the lawyer also issued a statement.

“I have never had, nor will I have, any interference in the affairs of his dignity as ambassador,” said the text, referring to Benedetti. The co-judge assured that although he represented Benedetti “in some processes of ordinary justice”, he did not advise him “regarding matters pertinent to his charge.”

Currently, Pava accompanies Benedetti in the process that the Supreme Court of Justice is taking him for the case of the Financial Fund for Development Projects (FONADE).

The thesis of the case is that during the government of Juan Manuel Santos some congressmen, such as Benedetti and Musa Besaile, allegedly participated in the irregular awarding of some contracts in exchange for bribes.

The process against Benedetti had several delays. Last year the Court was ready to call him for an investigation, but Mauricio Pava was in the United States, so the procedure went from May to June, when that did not happen either.

Time passed and Benedetti was appointed as ambassador to Venezuela. For this reason, the Court sent the file of the ex-congressman to the Prosecutor’s Office. Mauricio Pava participated in that shipment, through a request for annulment “so that a unified decision be adopted,” according to what he indicated.

However, the files against the former ambassador have already returned to the high court, who will have to appear for an investigation, next to Mauricio Pava, before the office of magistrate Cristina Lombana.

The lawyer Pava also participated in the creation of the Total Peace Law, something for which the former president of the Senate Roy Barreras, today the ambassador of the United Kingdom, thanked him. Currently, this Law has eight lawsuits in the Constitutional Court.

*PAVA’S RESPONSE AND WHAT’S NEXT*

In a statement on the letterhead of the Mauricio Pava L. Abogados firm, Pava confirmed the news from President Gustavo Petro.

“We have assumed the legal representation of the President with the commitment that all the investigations advance and the country will soon have clarity,” the text says.

In the same document, Pava assured that “immediately” he will request access “to all the complaints”, seeking that they be unified “and we can have a serious and respectful legal debate.”

Colprensa tried to speak with the lawyer, in the midst of “the undeniable media exposure” indicated in the statement. “I am in the process of informing myself,” she replied.

The legal paths that they follow lead to a slow process that will come in the Commission of Accusations of the House of Representatives and to the possible intervention in what comes with the son of the president, Nicolás Petro.

The criminal Iván Cancino, through his Twitter account, said that Gustavo Petro could, eventually, “consider himself a victim within processes derived from his son’s.” The condition is that he does not admit to being a participant in the crimes that Petro Jr. accused him of.

“Will he do it? It will dawn and we will see,” Cancino said.