Exclusively, the former Comptroller General of the Republic, David Turbay Turbay spoke with the Diario del Huila, about his search to prove his innocence after 25 years of being convicted in the case of Process 8,000.
By: Luis Alfonso Albarracin Palomino
The former Comptroller General of the Republic, David Turbay Turbay, has requested the Supreme Court of Justice to review his criminal proceedings that convicted him of the alleged crime, the only proof of which was the origin of the money from the Exportcafe account. Ltda., based on drug trafficking, and his destination and the indication of his name as that of a Congressman who received a check from that account in Cali.
Dr. Turbay, what is the request you have made to the Supreme Court of Justice to review your case?
It is important to make a summary of my judicial situation, in order to enlighten public opinion about this unjust sentence imposed on me by the honorable Supreme Court of Justice. The Attorney General of the Nation at that time, the one who opened the investigation of my criminal process, had already expressed his opinion on the so-called 8000. He wrote an applauded prologue for the book La Conspiracion, published by the studious son of former president López Michelsen, Juan Manuel Lopez Caballero. There he said that the interpretation given by the judges took criminal dogmatics by the wayside. And he said that applying it in the case of eventual financing of an electoral campaign was a serious mistake. Yes, he stated that it was an imprecise criminal offense, created to ward off a State of Siege and not for the purpose at that time persecuted. I care little to occupy myself with the writings of my enemies. I spend my time studying Churchill, Marx, Ferrajoli, and so many really important writers. But a friend, great in criminal law, sent me the text of that prologue. And I reproduced it in my arguments without response. I want to remind public opinion that the Attorney General of the Nation, Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento, had issued an Inhibitory Resolution, dated December 2, 1996, in the face of the testimonies of Pallomari, or of whom he claimed to be.
But what happened, with such antecedents?
There was no preclusion of the instructions, because I was not called to render an investigation. But if there were other facts, it could be revoked. I invite the Jurisdiction to show me, in pursuit of Justice, the Resolution that expressly revoked it. Where is? I never met her and warned about it. Painfully today, I am condemned and I am Acquitted. Both dealt with the La Arabia lot and the testimonies of Pallomari, or whoever claimed to be. I clarify the latter, because since July 8, 1994, before the opening of my investigation, through a document that has not been indicated as false, or as a liar, the real Pallomari was deceased. There are impediments and there are procedures that generate annulments.
What was the origin of the check that incriminates him?
It is important to describe the following: The signatures that appear on this check, the testimonies of Charlotte and the Petersburg that is the one that deals with me, were accompanied in my process by two forensic experts, in which, in principle, it is concluded that The signatures submitted to forensic study corresponded to two different handwritten developments. And they said nothing in front of the scanned signatures. This warranted an ignored immediate legal action. I hope you won’t have to delve into this investigation. Something strange was plotted to condemn me. When he was shown the check drawn in Cali on May 1, 1994 against the checking account of Exportcafé Ltda., which was not drawn in the name of David Turbay but in the name of Juan Pérez, who endorsed it with his identity card, Citizenship, for the sum of $50,000,000, acknowledged that it could have been drawn by Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, but they do not know who its beneficiary was. That is to say, it is easy to infer that the statements of who claims to be Guillermo Pallomari do not in any way compromise the responsibility of David Turbay Turbay for the punishable act resulting from the process, because in none of its sections do they place me receiving in one way or another, at a certain time and place, a concrete sum of money, of illicit origin. And none of it was validly proven. Everything leads one to think that a film with errors was edited, fortunately, with an improvised script, I dare to think that it allows us to reveal the malevolent objective pursued without the truth.
What do you expect, that the Supreme Court of Justice decides its sentence this week?
No to Regional Justice, no to the fanciful orchestration to destroy a decent man. The Supreme Court, Labor Cassation Chamber, has the opportunity to highlight it. May God give you strength. Two months have passed today since I filed the challenge to the guardianship ruling, which mistakenly upheld theses that do not apply to the case of my guardianship action. I have been reiterating that all these demonstrations turn out to be, we insist, substantial affectations to my fundamental rights and my procedural guarantees. But you must always start from my affirmation, which has never been defeated, that I did not receive, endorse or cash any check. Therefore, there can be no crime of enrichment of individuals.
Why did justice only validate what Palomari said and dismiss the other evidence?
But the judicial authorities gave full validity to everything Pallomari said or whoever said it was. And the expertise was neither decreed nor practiced. I have demonstrated, and they operate in plenary, that there were, for example, millionaire consignments made in that account by Posts of the Bogota Stock Exchange. And the judicial silence was resounding, complicit and perverse. Nothing is proven accordingly. There are presumptions, which do not even support evidence to the contrary, inadmissible within a precise and clear application of the law. From there the investigation had to start with submission to the law. But he started from question-begging problems consisting of presuming what had to be proven, and it was never proven. I remember that I was not allowed to cross-examine the alleged Pallomari, the one that Colombian State authorities assure that he is the usurper of the identity of a dead man. These statements were made known to the Prosecutor’s Office 29 years ago, on July 8, 1974, when my investigation had not even been opened, and complicit silence apparently also operated in the face of such a serious issue. All of this smacks of a ruse, of sponsorship of a petty rig, of a colony that should never have operated. The truth, for all intents and purposes, is that once the test that wanted to demonstrate the falsity of his testimony was decreed, it was not carried out, due to considerations beyond the control of the defendant or defendant. And consequently without probative merit to ensure a crime.
In the end, what happened to this money allegedly coming from the Cali cartel?
The truth also turns out to be that when they asked the alleged Pallomari to whom the check that was investigated had been issued, the 3214525 of Exportcafé Ltda., he said he did not know. Then there is not even an accusation with supporting evidence. What there are are lying statements on which there are even firm estoppel resolutions, decreed by the prosecution itself. The truth is that this check was drawn in the name of Mr. Juan Pérez M, and that he endorsed it with his signature and ID. The judicial authorities presumed that they were a false name and signature, without checking it, as it was imperative to do. And he didn’t. The endorsement does not transfer cause, I must insist on respect for commercial and banking legislation. And he said that the money was given to me to finance my campaign for Congress in 1994. It was proven in plenary that I was not a candidate for either the Senate of the Republic or the House of Representatives for that period. And it is proven that the elections were held on March 11, 1994 and the check is dated May 1, 1994, two months after these. And I have never been the man with an athletic build who assured that I was the one who had been in Cali in the Vizcaya building receiving money from that Cartel. That was dealt with by the investigation that ended with an Inhibitory Resolution signed by the Attorney General of the time, Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento, accepting the allegations of Jaime Bernal, my lawyer, which has never been revoked by another of his identical positive hierarchy.
What does Doctor Turbay expect about the decision that the Supreme Court of Justice is about to issue?
The entire sentence is the sum of lies, which cannot continue to affect the tormented life of an older adult, who does not want to die, for not being a bandit, with the inri of criminal. May the time taken serve to answer these questions written with great faith in today’s Judges.
Continue the battle. I believe in my victory. My foundations are not demagogy. They are legal reasons of higher values. My tests are from the State. To disrespect them is to shoot the Constitution, to poison criminal dogmatics. There are only a few hours left to find out. May God protect me and the people continue to support me, it is my cry for true Justice for my process. I hope his fought ending is happy. The last thing to lose is not hope, it’s dignity!