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The Attorney General’s Office decided to close the investigation against prosecutor Daniel Hernández after concluding there is no evidence linking him to an alleged bribery attempt involving lawyer Alex Vernot in 2019, aimed at implicating current President Gustavo Petro.
According to a document obtained by Caracol Radio, the decision is based on the complete absence of material evidence, physical evidence, or legally obtained information that would support the existence of a bribery offense.
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The Seventh Prosecutor Delegated to the Supreme Court of Justice concluded: “There is no material evidence, physical evidence, and legally obtained information to support that the objective elements of the bribery offense are structured. For this reason, it is necessary to exercise the exceptional power to archive the proceedings against DANIEL RICARDO HERNÁNDEZ GONZÁLEZ, in adherence to Article 79 of Law 9068 (sic).
In examining the case, the prosecution found that the statements of the lawyers representing Alex Vernot contradicted Vernot’s own version. Lawyer Alma Rocío Niño stated to the prosecution, “I never heard that” regarding the alleged illegal proposal.
Moreover, lawyer Jesús Albeiro Yepes, who represented Vernot at least six months after his arrest, stated in a November 5, 2025 interview: “I cannot say that that offer was made in my presence.” Additionally, attorney Martha Zamora stated: “Oh no, never, I believe that Doctor Hernández and Doctor Betancourt have always been, based on what I know of their professional conduct, absolutely serious and respectful individuals in court.”
The investigation arose from a series of interviews Alex Vernot gave to various media outlets in November 2022. In those statements, the lawyer claimed that during his detention in 2019, prosecutors Daniel Hernández and Álvaro Betancourt offered him “house arrest” in exchange for implicating Gustavo Petro, supposedly through intermediaries. However, the document from the Attorney General’s Office known to the referenced media indicates that Vernot did not specify the conditions under which the proposal was made nor identified the lawyers who could attest to it.
During the review of the case, the prosecution examined the file against Vernot to identify the lawyers who represented him during the time Daniel Hernández served as prosecutor. None of the consulted lawyers supported Vernot’s version. The Attorney General’s Office concluded that, contrary to what Vernot suggested, his own lawyers denied having received any offers from prosecutor Hernández.
In November 2022, President Gustavo Petro publicly accused prosecutor Daniel Hernández of fostering impunity in major corruption cases and of attempting to fabricate false witnesses against him. Nonetheless, the Attorney General’s Office found no evidence to support these accusations and ordered the definitive closure of the case, as reported by Caracol Radio.
In 2022, the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Bogotá revoked the acquittal against lawyer Alexandre Vernot and sentenced him to 72 months in prison for his involvement in the scandal known as the Hyundai case.
The court determined that Vernot bribed a witness with two million dollars who was testifying in the judicial process against businessman Carlos Mattos, of whom Vernot was an attorney.
In February of the same year, the 51st Criminal Court of Bogotá had declared Vernot innocent of the bribery charge in a criminal proceeding. That court concluded that the Attorney General’s Office “did not prove its case theory to reach a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The sentence arose after the court found that Vernot did indeed make the payment intended to influence key testimonies within the judicial process against Mattos.
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