This service comes before the report to the authorities and is distinct from it. It decides which facts to reconstruct, what evidence can be gathered without committing an offence, and whether the criminal route is worth opening.
Investigating a crime in Colombia: evidence is won or lost before the proceeding
When a person or a company discovers something that may be an offence, the first reaction is to gather everything there is. That is where cases are lost. An email read without authorisation or a device opened without chain of custody turns the material into unlawful evidence, which the judge excludes. A witness questioned without method does not lose the evidence: it contaminates it. Memory shifts with every leading question, and what is degraded is not recovered at trial. And an informal enquiry can amount to a fresh offence: unauthorised access to a computer system, breach of personal data or interception. What happens in those first days defines what can be proved later.
What it is, and what it is not
It is the legal direction of a private investigation into facts that may amount to an offence. The lawyer defines what is being looked for, how it is gathered and what is not touched. That way the evidence withstands the trial standard and no one is exposed to criminal conduct. It only makes sense where a criminal proceeding is possible or already under way. It is not private investigation on one’s own account, nor compliance, nor a parallel police force. It does not deal with personal, employment or family enquiries that are not headed for a criminal proceeding. It does not promise to identify the perpetrator or to recover money. And it is not taken on to investigate someone who already has counsel of record.
What we do in this service
First, the factual reconstruction: with you, we order what happened inside the organisation or the case, with dates, people and documents. Then the preliminary legal characterisation: which offence is plausible and which facts, however painful, do not amount to one. Next, the evidence plan: what to gather, how to preserve it and what to leave intact, whether documentary, digital, testimonial or expert. With witnesses, the aim is to preserve the testimony. They are interviewed early and with method, following the psychology of testimony and evidential reasoning, so that their recollection reaches the trial intact. On that plan, instructions on legality are issued to the internal team or to the investigator. Finally, the decision: report now, preserve and wait, or do not open the criminal route.
The plan is built with the firm’s method, four planes applied to the investigation. The facts that can be reconstructed, the rule that defines the offence, the evidence it is lawful to obtain, and the strategy on when and how to take it to the prosecution. If the plan ends in a report, that document is a separate service: assistance in filing a criminal complaint.
When an investigator is involved
Coordination with a forensic investigator is part of the plan from day one. You engage the investigator separately, according to what the case requires, and they work under the lawyer’s written instructions, by lawful means. That separation of roles is not a formality: a lawyer who gathers the evidence personally may end up a witness and off the case. Where the matter is already in proceedings, the defence and the victim investigate under the powers in articles 267 to 273 of Law 906 of 2004. These are interviews, sworn statements, expert reports and the collection of physical items. We explain this in detail in before engaging a private investigator.
Who it is for
For any victim of any offence: the individual and the company. The typical case in an organisation is internal fraud, disloyal administration, theft by employees or damage to computer systems, but the list is not closed. It also serves someone already under investigation who needs to build their own evidence under the same rules. If you are consulting on behalf of a company, it is enough to state your role: legal representative, board member or counsel. The analysis starts from the facts and the available evidence, not from the size of the organisation.
Initial consultation
In the initial consultation we review with you what happened, what you already hold and what you have not yet touched. At the end you take away four answers. First, whether there is a plausible offence and which one. Second, what evidence can lawfully be gathered and what must stay intact. Third, whether an investigator is advisable and under what instructions. Fourth, whether to report now, preserve and wait, or not open the criminal route at all. If we conclude that there is no offence or that investigating adds nothing, we say so.
Everything you share is covered by professional privilege from the first conversation. The initial consultation has a price, which is deducted from the fee if you retain the firm within 30 days of the opinion. It can be held in person in Bogotá or remotely from anywhere in Colombia or abroad.
Who does it
Juan Antonio Matiz Estrategia Legal SAS is a boutique firm devoted exclusively to criminal law. The plan is led by Juan Antonio Matiz Monroy, a graduate of Los Andes with a specialisation in Criminal Law from Sergio Arboleda, professional licence 294.746. His full background is on the firm’s page.
Have you discovered something that may be an offence? Before gathering evidence informally, it is worth knowing what is lawful to do and what is not.
Frequently asked questions
What people usually ask us
Is this not the same as engaging a private investigator?
No. The investigator gathers; this service decides what is gathered, how and for what. Without legal direction, the material may reach the proceeding worthless, or cost you a criminal complaint of your own. If the case calls for it, the investigator is coordinated from the outset and you engage them separately.
Can I talk to the witnesses myself before the consultation?
Better not. Every conversation without method alters what the witness remembers, and contaminated testimony is not excluded: it reaches the trial weakened and is weighed as such. The plan defines who interviews, when and how, under the rules of the psychology of testimony, so as to preserve the account as it was.
What if the investigation shows there is no offence?
We tell you, and nothing is reported. Knowing it in time avoids a groundless proceeding and leaves open the civil, employment or disciplinary routes, which are sometimes the right ones. Everything discussed remains covered by professional privilege.
Is it useful if the prosecution has already opened an inquiry?
Yes. Within the proceeding, both the victim and the person under investigation may conduct their own investigation under the powers in articles 267 to 273 of Law 906. The plan defines what to put in, what to ask the prosecution for and what to hold back for the hearings.