00:00Alias Memo Fantasma, this is the nickname that Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo uses
00:04It appears in court records and is the name by which he has been known since 2020
00:08when his alleged relationship with the paramilitary leadership of Carlos Castaño Gil came to light.
00:13Right now, this 53-year-old man is about to face a criminal trial.
00:19The prosecution accuses him of having been, apparently, one of the men in charge of laundering the money
00:24of the Bolívar Central Bloc of the AUC, one of the largest paramilitary structures
00:29two decades ago. However, Acevedo maintains that his wealth has a completely different origin.
00:34different, real estate businesses and the construction of multiple buildings in Colombia and Spain.
00:40In addition to that criminal case, the investigative unit of El Espectador learned that, at the end of August,
00:46Acevedo Giraldo lost a legal battle against the DIAN in a case that is
00:50closely related to his legal proceedings with the Prosecutor's Office.
00:54The fight with the DIAN
00:55The story began with something seemingly routine, and with which several Colombians
00:59We have to comply, pay taxes.
01:01In 2019, Acevedo declared his income for 2018 and told the DIAN that, although he had
01:07While he had businesses in Colombia, most of his companies were in Spain, where he resided.
01:12The entity initially accepted that explanation, and the result was that on that occasion the
01:17The man known as Memo Fantasma had to pay around 13 million pesos in taxes.
01:22But two years later, everything changed. In June 2021, Acevedo was captured and charged with
01:27money laundering. And in October of that same year, while he was detained, the DIAN (Colombian Tax and Customs Directorate)
01:32He reviewed that statement of his businesses again in 2018.
01:36This time, the DIAN used information found by the Prosecutor's Office, among those findings of a thousand
01:40millions of pesos in cash that had not been declared and nearly two billion
01:45of pesos found in two companies related to Acevedo Giraldo.
01:49The calculation changed radically. The DIAN calculated that they owed two thousand six hundred and thirty.
01:54and seven million pesos in taxes and also imposed a penalty of one thousand seven hundred and nine
01:59millions for having provided information that did not correspond to reality.
02:03In total, he had to pay four billion three hundred and forty-six million to the Colombian tax authorities.
02:08of pesos. Then, in June 2023, Acevedo sued the DIAN, arguing that the entity could not
02:14to use evidence obtained in the criminal proceedings in that way. But the Administrative Court
02:20The Cundinamarca court, which reviewed the case, rejected Acevedo's claims in the
02:24The court ruled in favor of the DIAN (Colombian Tax and Customs Directorate). The judges concluded that the entity could indeed use
02:29that information and that Acevedo had the opportunity to challenge it during the tax process.
02:35Ghost Memo, the other side of the story.
02:38But behind this tax dispute lies a much older story. For years,
02:43Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo led a life that, at least publicly, seemed to be that of a
02:47businessman involved in real estate. The problem is that, according to the Prosecutor's Office, behind
02:53That wealth would tell another story, the story of drug trafficking money and paramilitarism.
02:58The prosecution maintains that Acevedo was allegedly in charge of laundering funds for the Central Bloc.
03:03Bolívar, a paramilitary organization commanded by Carlos Mario Jiménez, alias Macaco.
03:08And here appears one of the most striking elements of the case.
03:12How did he manage to stay off the authorities' radar for so many years?
03:16In 2015 and again in 2020, former paramilitary member Julián Bolívar told the Prosecutor's Office that
03:21I had known Acevedo since 1998. According to my testimony, he was already well-known in the
03:26Underworld and had close ties to the Castaño Gil brothers, leaders of paramilitarism.
03:31He also claimed to have seen him meeting with alias Danielito, the alleged head of the office
03:36from Envigado, who was murdered and forcibly disappeared in 2007.
03:41It wasn't until March 2020 that an Insight Crime report publicly linked him to
03:46the structure of Carlos Castaño Gil, almost a year before he was captured by the
03:50authorities to charge him with money laundering.
03:53At that point, the Prosecutor's Office ended up ordering the seizure of assets that included
03:5817 urban properties, 3 commercial establishments, 7 companies, 2 vehicles and 31 bank accounts.
04:06Acevedo categorically denies the allegations and maintains that his wealth comes from activities
04:11legal for years and that he will prove his innocence in the face of the judicial havoc.
04:15For now, his criminal trial has not yet begun. Sources close to the case told us that everything points to [the outcome of the trial].
04:20that this key stage of the case could begin during the first half of 2027.
04:25And it will be there that a judge will have to determine in the first instance what is behind the
04:30The story of Memo Fantasma, a businessman who, according to his own account, built his fortune
04:35between Spain and Colombia, or the one who, according to the Prosecutor's Office, allegedly hid the fortune of
04:40narcoparamilitarism in Colombia.
04:42To learn more about this article, we invite you to visit the research section.
04:47on elespectador.com and don't forget to follow us on our social media.
05:00Thank you!
