Although officially neither party has come out to make public statements, the fight that has been going on for a year due to the inheritance of the once powerful businessman William Vélez continues to climb judicially, corporately and civilly.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO, which has been exclusively revealing the million-dollar affair a week ago, established for the first time that, in addition to the complaints and lawsuits between the lawyers of Sandra María Vélez Mesa and Lina María Vélez Gaviria, for opaque corporate management, there is another issue that is distancing the two sisters.
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Summons to witnesses
Juan Felipe Posada Rojas, husband of Lina Vélez. Photo:Private file
Sandra Vélez, business administrator and whose attorneys are the lawyers Jaime Lombana and Néstor Camilo Martínez, gave power to collect evidence about the circumstances of time, manner and place in which Vélez lost his life.
Indeed, beyond the fight for control of the dozens of companies that the Vélez emporium has in more than 7 countries – and which include the Ethus Group and Interaseo in Colombia -, the lawsuit between sisters is moving to the civil field to establish if there was any type of negligence in the transfer. and care that William Vélez received after the accident he suffered in Medellín, in May 2025, which ended up costing him his life three days later.
In the middle of the week EL TIEMPO revealed that one of the first to be summoned for an extra-procedural interrogation in a court in Medellín It was Juan Felipe Posada Rojas, international business professional, who is married to Lina María Vélez.
The sworn testimony took place on April 14, 2026 and in it he was asked insistently why, after the fall suffered by William Vélez, 81, in an office at the Astorga clinic in the capital of Paisa, they delayed about an hour to take him to the Cardio VID clinic, located one hour and 8 minutes from the scene of the accident.
The husband of Lina Vélez, the heiress of the Paisa businessman, was emphatic that they followed the doctors’ instructions. And given the delay of the ambulance, the decision was made to put him in his private car and transport him to be evaluated by specialists. But it is evident that the explanations were not enough to stop the collection of information that Sergio Rojas, the attorney for Sandra Vélez, the other heir, is carrying out.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO established for the first time that people around William Vélez have continued to be cited, to continue investigating what happened.
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The couple and the employee
María Eugenia Rojas, partner of William Vélez. Photo:Private file
Indeed, María Eugenia Rojas, partner of William Vélez and, in turn, mother of Juan Felipe Posada, He was also in an interrogation hearing on May 5 before the 11th civil court in Medellín.
EL TIEMPO established that they asked him why his son had been called to transport the businessman and it was not decided to use the driver who accompanied him or an ambulance.
He was also asked to specify whether the decisions that were made regarding the fate of William Vélez, They were consulted with their eldest daughter Sandra Vélez.
A few days before, Esther Collantes, the person in charge of the domestic service at William Vélez’s house, had already been heard in a statement.who was asked if her boss had planned to meet María Eugenia Rojas in the office or if it was a surprise that she appeared.
And Pedro Pablo Sierra is pending testimony, William Vélez’s personal physician.
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Lina’s agent
Lawyer Jaime Granados. Photo:Private file
EL TIEMPO contacted criminal lawyer Jaime Granados, attorney for Lina Vélez, her husband and her mother-in-law, who began by pointing out that Sandra Vélez has the right to ask for whatever she wants: “There is no civil or any other action against my clients for the unfortunate accident of May 16, 2025 and everything that happened is duly documented.”
Besides, He assured that contrary to what some have said, Sandra Vélez knew everything that was happening in real time.
He also said that this sector of the Vélez is not feeding the information that has come out about corporate differences, but he did warn that they are exercising their defense.
And he ended by adding that the medical diagnosis and the private life of the businessman Vélez They are not from the spring of an employee.
In the midst of the fight, the Attorney General’s Office continues to advance in the investigation into the opaque transaction that Ecopetrol made to one of William Vélez’s companies for the transfer of the two Termomorichal I and II energy generators that the EL TIEMPO Investigative Unit revealed for the first time on September 2, 2024.
From concepts of the oil company that assure that this transfer was at zero cost, They went on to disburse 42 million dollars.
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The judicial artillery
The deceased businessman William Vélez and his daughter Lina Vélez. Photo:Private file
Although William Vélez’s companies have continued to operate after his death and even generated greater assets, the fight between his heirs already leaves more than one twenty legal actions that have already begun to attract the attention of banks and partners in several megaprojects.
And although the confrontation has been handled for a long year with a low profile, the number of legal actions that the Vélez sisters have filed through their lawyers ended up bursting the bubble in which the dispute over one of the largest fortunes in the country remained.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO investigated and established that the lawyers of Lina Vélez, the youngest of the Paisa businessman’s daughters, began by filing a arbitration claim against the Interaseo Group, for the removal of an executive: Juan Manuel Gómez Mejía.
Although it did not succeed, the registrations of several commercial registries were later challenged in which, among other points, the board of directors of the Ethuss Group was appointed, among other decisions.
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Guardianship due to economic violence
The deceased businessman William Vélez and his daughter Sandra María. Photo:Private file
Administrative actions have also been promoted against decisions of Vélez group companies such as Aseo Técnico and Atesa de Occidente.
And a protection action was instituted against Sandra Vélez and other administrators of the group, for economic violence against Lina Vélez.
This was lost in two instances, but the Constitutional Court, in the room of Jorge Ibáñez and Carlos Camargo, They decided to review it and a decision is pending.
On the part of Sandrá Vélez, in addition to investigating what the accident in which William Vélez died was like, They have achieved several favorable rulings and have moved on to countersuits.
Among others, they filed a lawsuit for the alleged commission of the crimes of unfair administration, procedural fraud and falsification of private documents.
In that case, the companies Central Hidroeléctrica Zeus SAS, to Penderisco and the Goldstone firm. The rulings are pending.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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