The Attorney General’s Office dealt an important blow against corruption and money laundering by dismantling a network that, for almost a decade, created paper companies to simulate million-dollar commercial operations. This illegitimate structure would have caused significant damage to the State, generating tax losses of more than 843,000 million pesos.

The investigation, led by the Specialized Directorate against Tax Crimes, made it possible to identify six people as those allegedly responsible for establishing 185 fictitious companies. These companies did not have resources, personnel or real infrastructure to operate, but they were used by other companies to evade sales tax and illegally reduce the taxable income base, causing an estimated loss of more than 155,000 million pesos to the State.

Among those captured are Jairo Bernal, Jaime Sánchez, Nidia Pineda, Fany Rodríguez, Edgardo Lozano and Jeik Yepes. Each would have played a key role, from coordinating the creation and administration of these front companies to managing illicit resources and legally representing the fake companies.

This might interest you: The Petro Government, a “historic opportunity” full of corruption

The modus operandi of this network developed between 2012 and 2022, a period in which they simulated millions of pesos in transactions that never existed. Thanks to joint work with the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) and the use of the Single Financial Investigation Model (MUIF), the Prosecutor’s Office established a total volume of fictitious operations for more than 843 billion pesos. In particular, Jairo Bernal would have managed and transformed more than 21 billion pesos, moving those resources to give them the appearance of legality.

In a joint operation carried out in Bogotá and Casanare, the authorities managed to capture the six people involved and bring them before a guarantee control judge. They were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime for the purposes of illicit enrichment, illicit enrichment in favor of third parties and money laundering. Five of them will receive house arrest and one will have to serve time in a prison. In addition, the legal status of 162 companies related to this network was suspended, directly affecting the structure used for the simulation.