The unedited file of Colombia’s most important pyramid scheme (Part I)

If up until now a few recordings about the activities of David Murcia Guzmán have become known and the country continues to be surprised, upon examining the testimonies and reading more than 200,000 pages from his file and thousands of recordings an almost fictional universe is revealed.

The man who this week began to give his version before justice was convinced that, with a handful of helpers, he was going to change the world and that the world would revolve around him. He had reasons to believe it, because in less than three years, the young good-intentioned man who in 2005 in La Hormiga, Putumayo had barely had a cent by 2008 had transformed himself into a ambitious magnate, who moved billions of pesos in cash, was buying a bank and had woven a network of powerful contacts.
But that was the glamorous side of the story. He was surrounded by dark characters who were making themselves powerful in his shadow, moved money of dubious origin abroad and engineered all kinds of strategies to fill in the cracks of his business which threatened to destroy his dreams.

In the abundant intelligence work that was undertaken for almost two years by an elite group of the National Police, there are thousands of wiretappings, and meetings and contacts with dozens of politicians who today deny their links with the DMG firm.
In one revealing conversation, Murcia celebrates with William Suárez his electoral triumph in ten governorships and mayors’ races in 2007, saying that those victories are “better than opening a thousand companies.” There are other conversations in which he reveals his support for politicians and there is evidence that he is after juicy contracts. On January 9, 2008, Suárez mentions in a call from the department of Magdalena that “there will be plenty of work in the next four years,” because “we got the governorship, the hospitals and part of the security forces here, and also in La Guajira and Putumayo [departments]… so we can hire people and open offices.” In another excerpt Murcia advises that they name him economic advisor in places where DMG would have influence.

Another surprising conversation from March 2008, reveals the negotiation of coastal lands for five billion pesos (about 2 million USD) in order to build a port. From the conversation it is clear that they had purchased two lots. “Those two plots were sold by two local families from Buenaventura and that is why they had very low appraisals.” In the conversation he seeks a way to avoid the attention of authorities.

His interests soon went beyond regional politics and were extended to Congress. One of the key allies in this process was the representative from Putumayo Orlando Guerra, who defended DMG on radio. According to evidence, in May last year Guerra met with Margarita Pabón, and in July with Daniel Ángel. In a report by Angel to Murcia it says “…I am having lunch with the guy from Putumayo… He sat me down with the president of the Senate. He is going to sit me down with the superintendent of industries. ” Hernán Andrade, at that time president of the Senate, told SEMANA that he never met with DMG representatives, and that as a fellow party member of Guerra and friend of the superintendent of industry, someone tried to connect them. He highlights the role of the superintendent in the dismantling of Murcia’s holdings. There are references to similar meetings, for example with Samuel Moreno, then Bogotá mayoral candidate, who also denies it. In any case, even if these meetings did happen, that alone does not imply anything different to showing how DMG sought to gain access to all levels of power.

There are several mentions of Hernan Arias, the former local human rights ombudsman of Bogotá, as a possible link in order to get access to a former president who had a lot of power in Congress. (Arias has said that he advised on security issues to a company that he didn’t know was DMG.) There are also coded messages from someone who is said to be from a public entity that advanced million dollar negotiations on a related matter with the Pacific train project. Some documents that they found on Murcia when he was arrested have not gone unnoticed, like Guerra’s business cards and from the then vice-minister of justice, Guillermo Reyes, who this magazine has not been able to reach, and other documents found in the seizures.

This DMG offensive to penetrate the political class does not necessarily imply illegal activities by the people mentioned. The fact of meeting with someone can be indiscrete but it isn’t a crime. That is much less the case if it is taken into consideration that at that time DMG was a business that operated openly.

On the second part tomorrow: How did DMG operate? And Bonds with the Americans