The first week of June, the Prosecutor’s Office occupied 16 restaurants of the renowned Asian food chain Sushi MarketThat operates in cities like Medellin, Envigado and Pereiraarguing that it would be related to illicit activities of the ‘invisible drug trafficker’, as they called Julio Andrés Murillo Figueroa, captured last February in compliance with an Interpol red notice for drug trafficking.
According to the criteria of
The investigation released by the Prosecutor’s Office indicates that Murillo would have invested the profits from the sale of narcotics in recognized companies, among which is Sushi Market, to give the appearance of legality to this money of illicit origin.
EL TIEMPO was able to see a private document filed with the Medellín Chamber of Commerce in 2018 which states that the company Holding JA2, owner of 9 of the 18 Sushi Market establishments, is made up of two natural persons with 20 percent each. and Eastern District with 60 percent, whose sole owner is Jorge Arcila, brother-in-law of Murillo Figueroa.
One of the partners – a natural person – of this establishment, whom we will call Mateo*, at the request of the source, spoke with EL TIEMPO.
“Julio Murillo is not a partner of Sushi Market. In 2018 we were the investment partners for the expansion of the restaurant chain, even Distrito Oriental did not put a weight on this expansion,” says Mateo.
According to the private document known to EL TIEMPOIndeed, in 2018 the Holding was created and in one of the paragraphs it is clear that it would be the two natural persons who would provide all the capital for the expansion of the premises.
“We did the verification when we became partners of Jorge Arcila, Eastern District did not have any alerts in the verification systems. They provided the brand and the core of the business and we provided the capital,” Mateo argued.
Photo of one of the Sushi Market locations that went into domain extinction due to links with alias H1.
Photo:Dijín-Police
Investigation details
According to the Prosecutor’s Office itself in the resolution of precautionary measures, “it is striking that 60 percent of the shares represented by the company DISTRICT ORIENTAL does not make any warning or modification of the companies that constitute the capital of that majority shareholder, capital “which was constituted with companies canceled as of 2022.”
Julio Murillo was part of Distrito Oriental through another company that canceled in 2022 and from that moment on he was no longer part of the company, according to the investigation.
Mateo and his partner became friends in Cali in 2018 because they coincided at the opening of other restaurants in said capital and that’s where the partnership began.
“How is it possible that in Sushi Market Will some type of illegal act be carried out if we had to close the Bucaramanga point because it was not profitable? The Prosecutor’s Office says that it is anomalous that we grew so much in a pandemic even with restaurants closed, but in a pandemic we implemented a very strong strategy in homes,” Mateo argues.
Given these financial results and its consolidation as one of the most recognized sushi chains in Medellín and Antioquia, in 2019 they received a purchase offer from the Nutresa group that amounted to 25,000 million pesos.
“Such an important business group only makes an offer of this type once it has verified that everything is legal, that it is correct,” adds Mateo.
The Eastern District partners affirm that they are going through a moment of uncertainty regarding the outlook they have. “There are more than 300 employees, 300 families who are facing a discouraging panorama, we did things well, we hope it can be clarified as soon as possible,” they say.
Along with these commercial establishments, assets owned by Julio Murillo in eastern Antioquia were occupied, among which a mansion where his capture took place stands out.
MEDELLIN
