World
Laura Sarabia Was Indicted and Joins Other Cases Involving Former Petro Administration Officials
The former head of the Dapre was charged in the case involving the polygraph test administered to Marelbys Meza. According to El Tiempo, the case adds to other investigations into corruption, campaign financing and document falsification.
Laura Sarabia was indicted by the Attorney General’s Office in the case linked to the polygraph test administered to Marelbys Meza, an episode that in 2023 hit Gustavo Petro’s government. According to El Tiempo, the former head of the Administrative Department of the Presidency, former chief of staff and former foreign minister is accused of abuse of public office, aggravated unlawful coercion and embezzlement through use.
According to that outlet, during the hearing the Attorney General’s Office argued that Sarabia would have used her position and state resources to intervene in a private matter, after the disappearance of a briefcase with money from her apartment. Sarabia pleaded not guilty.
El Tiempo said Sarabia’s case adds to a series of cases involving former officials and people close to the previous government over alleged acts of corruption, abuse of public power, irregularities in political financing and document falsification.
Among them is Carlos Ramón González, former head of the Dapre and the National Intelligence Directorate, whom the Attorney General’s Office accused of embezzlement for appropriation for the benefit of third parties, bribery and money laundering in the investigation into the UNGRD scandal. According to El Tiempo, an arrest warrant was later issued against him because he was outside the country.
Also listed is Ricardo Roa, former president of Ecopetrol and former campaign manager for Petro’s 2022 presidential bid, who is under investigation over the purchase of a property in Bogotá. In addition, the National Electoral Council moved forward on alleged irregularities in the financing and spending limits of the campaign, always according to El Tiempo.
In the UNGRD case, the outlet also included Sandra Ortiz, former presidential adviser for the Regions, and former ministers Ricardo Bonilla and Luis Fernando Velasco. In those cases, authorities are seeking to determine whether there was a structure to steer contracts and deliver resources to lawmakers in exchange for political support for the government.
The report also mentions Olmedo López, former head of the UNGRD, and Sneyder Pinilla, former deputy director of the agency. López accepted responsibility for embezzlement for appropriation and criminal conspiracy, although he was not formally convicted, while Pinilla was sentenced in April 2025 to five years in prison for those same crimes, according to El Tiempo.
That picture is further joined by Juliana Guerrero, who was accused of presenting false university degrees when she was seeking the post of deputy minister for Youth at the Ministry of Equality. On September 9, she accepted responsibility through a plea agreement with the Attorney General’s Office for procedural fraud, in a case linked to fake diplomas and records submitted to SIGEP and to that ministry.
A judge approved the agreement and imposed a 36-month prison sentence, with the possibility of conditional suspension of the sentence, as well as a fine and a ban on holding public office. However, El Tiempo said the magistrate ordered copies to be sent so the Attorney General’s Office can investigate whether ideological falsification in a public document may also have occurred. The outlet added that Gustavo Petro was not held responsible in that case.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
