One day after the Public Ministry (MP) request to revoke the substitute measures and order his capturePedro Alejandro Duque Soto appeared in the Second Pluripersonal Court of First Criminal Instance. The accused assured that he was never a fugitive and attributed the lack of his signature in the defendant control book to an administrative problem, an alternative obligation to preventive detention.
Duque is identified by the MP as the alleged leader of a structure under investigation for the alleged embezzlement of Q20 million from the National Mortgage Credit (CHN). He remains linked to criminal proceedings for the crimes of continued personal fraud, laundering of money or other assets and illicit association.
Upon his arrival at the court, Duque Soto rejected the versions that he had tried to evade justice and assured that at no time had he failed to comply with the alternative measures authorized by Judge Mario Hichos.
“Yesterday a topic of a possible escape and super absurd news circulated in the media. I have telematic control, there it is. The Ministry of the Interior always knows where I am. There is no risk of escape in this regard,” he commented.
Duque maintained that the problem arose because the necessary letters to enable the registration of his signature had not yet been sent.
“Yes, there was an issue of a signature that has not yet been submitted to some documents and, For the same reason, they have not let me sign. Today I came here to look for my file so that it can be authorized for me,” he said.
He added that he personally went to the court to find out the status of the file and regularize the process.
“I’m seeing that they give me a file so I can go to where I have to go and enable it because no notifications arrived. I think that’s what we’re going to try to do and I imagine that some type of legal solution must exist,” he said.
MP explains why he asked to revoke the measures
The MP reported that, through the resolution issued on June 10 by the Second Pluripersonal Court of First Criminal Instance, Duque Soto was granted substitute measures. Among them was the obligation to appear every 15 days to sign the substitute measures control book at the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office of San José Pinula.
However, the investigating entity explained that the judicial resolution did not establish how that period should be computed.
“The resolution did not specify the way in which the calculation of said period should be carried out, that is, whether the fifteen days should be understood as business days, consecutive days or from what date their accounting began,” said the MP.
He added that, given this omission, the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office requested a clarification before the court.
“A memorial was presented to the jurisdictional body requesting the corresponding clarification; however, said request was not resolved,” said the MP.
Although the clarification was not resolved, the MP assured that he verified compliance with the measure once 15 business days had passed since the judicial resolution.
“In light of the above, once fifteen business days had passed since the issuance of the resolution, on July 2 the MP documented the control book of substitute measures, verifying that the accused had not complied with the imposed obligation,” he explained.
The investigating entity added that Duque failed to comply with one of the alternative measures imposed by the court.
“As a result of said non-compliance, the corresponding procedure was initiated and the request to revoke the substitute measures was presented to the court,” the MP reported.
Duque attributes the problem to an administrative procedure
The accused rejected the MP’s position and assured that he never deliberately failed to comply with the judicial measure.
According to Duque, the problem arose because the court had not sent the necessary letters to enable the registration of his signature before the MP.
“Since the subject of the case is currently challenged, there are a lot of things… I imagine; that is why the notifications have not been made to the pertinent court and that is why I came today to see how the subject of the file is in order to carry out a normal process.”
Asked about the challenge presented by the MP against Judge Mario Hichos, he avoided going deeper.
“I can’t discuss anything about the case. It’s part of my measures,” he commented.
Telematic control
As part of the verification of the version offered by Duque, Prensa Libre consulted the Department of Social Communication of the Telematic Control Unit of the Ministry of the Interior about the operation of the electronic device assigned to the accused.
He asked how many verifications had been carried out since the electronic shackle was placed, when was the last time Duque was monitored, if the system had generated any alerts and what was the last location recorded using GPS.
However, the agency did not respond to the queries and indicated that this information had to be requested through the Public Information Unit, since the institution’s authorities were attending to other activities and did not have time to respond.
Furthermore, the MP maintained that this unit had not yet sent him Duque’s location, even though he had requested it.
For its part, a team of investigators from the National Civil Police (PNC) had already begun to track the accused.
Changes in defense
According to a memorial presented on June 25 before the Second Pluripersonal Court of First Criminal Instance, lawyers Marlon Javier Juárez Mejicano, Mario Roberto Méndez Álvarez and Jorge Alejandro Méndez Álvarez presented their resignation from the exercise of the technical defense of Pedro Alejandro Duque Soto.
Duque said he is currently analyzing the integration of a new legal team.
“We are at an impasse right now choosing a new team, but they will probably remain the same. When you are contracting services, you are always evaluating which are the best options,” said the union.
In the letter, the professionals indicated that the decision was due to the media exposure of the case and “incompatibilities, differences in professional and technical criteria” with their client.
Investigation into the CHN case
Duque Soto remains linked to criminal proceedings for the crimes of continued personal fraud, laundering of money or other assets and illicit association.
According to the investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime, a structure would have used irregular financial mechanisms to defraud the National Mortgage Credit (CHN) for approximately Q20 million.
The investigation maintains that between January and March 2024, loans of up to Q400,000 were approved to people who, according to the MP, did not have the economic capacity or meet the requirements to access these credits.
According to the file, the money obtained through these loans would have been used to acquire luxury vehicles, real estate and other assets in the name of individuals and legal entities linked to those investigated. Among them is the company Crown & Lion, related to Pedro Duque, which, according to the MP, would have acquired high-end automobiles without sufficient financial backing.
The MP also seized several assets, including an Aston Martin DB11 Coupé, 2017 model, other luxury vehicles and 10 firearms, as part of the precautionary measures requested within the process.