The Attorney General's Office (FGR) stopped the capture of four lawyers and a financial operator denounced by businessman Juan Collado for allegedly extorting him. The group of litigants and the accountant are allegedly related to former presidential adviser Julio Scherer.
A letter dated April 8 ordered the suspension of the arrest warrant against the three defendants, Juan Araujo, Cesar González and Isaac Rodríguez. Similarly, the request for an initial hearing against David Gómez Arnau, which was scheduled to take place this Tuesday, April 12, 2022, was stopped.
The arrest warrants of which the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) withdrew, were issued last Thursday, April 7, after third time, the hearing against the group of litigants was postponed.
“Allow me to request that you withdraw the request for an arrest warrant made by official official letter 93/2022 of April 7 of the current year, and at that time I withdraw the request for an initial hearing indicated for next Tuesday, April 12 of this year, in which it was intended to bring charges against David Gómez Arnau”, is read in the paper consulted by the digital media Animal Político.
Last week, the hearing was postponed because the defense of the only person involved who appeared, David Gómez Arnau, told the judge that the Prosecutor's Office has not provided him with the full file. In addition, the other three defendants, Juan Araujo, Cesar González and Isaac Rodríguez, did not attend the hearing in the North Prison on the grounds that they had infected with COVID-19; however, they requested the change of defense in the morning.
In view of the facts, agents of the Public Prosecutor's Office considered the arguments of the defendants and their respective defenses as excuses, so hours later they issued the arrest warrants against the group of litigants, however, those measures were stopped by the prosecutor María Castañón Osorio the day after they were issued.
Lawyers close to Julio Scherer were indicted by Juan Collado, who has been detained since 2019 for alleged fraud in Querétaro, before the Attorney General's Office for allegedly leading acts of extortion against businessmen and professionals in order to obtain legal actions against them or that their actions were resolved favorably before the Federal Judiciary (PJF) in exchange for economic resources.
According to Collado, the lawyers demanded a million dollars from him to stop the investigations against him, conducted by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), then headed by Santiago Nieto; specifically, they asked him to surrender all the shares of his company Caja Libertad, or else he would spend the remainder of the six-year term in prison .
The first hearing against the group of lawyers was scheduled for February 28, and began the session with the four accused connected via videoconference; however, the hearing was stopped because the parties accused each other of violations of the procedure, claims of intimidation, violation of the presumption of innocence, as well as “cowardice”.
When it came to nothing, the judge in charge ordered to resume the session on March 8, with the difference that the defendants should attend the Federal Justice Center of the North Prison in person. However, on that occasion Isaac Pérez Rodríguez notified that he had been infected with COVID-19 and that, therefore, he should stay at home.
In order not to jeopardize the health of the other three lawyers, the judge announced a second postponement for Thursday, April 7, when the hearing did not take place either, as the group of litigants once again used excuses to appear in court.
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