Colombian prosecutors continue to block investigations into former President Álvaro Uribe’s alleged involvement in crimes against humanity and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutor Javier Cardenas on Monday asked a Bogota court to drop fraud and corruption charges filed with the Supreme Court in 2018.
Cardenas is also in charge of an investigation into Uribe’s alleged involvement in homicides in the late 1990s that has not progressed for two years.
Both criminal investigations are connected to alleged ties between the former president’s circle of relatives and the now-defunct AUC paramilitary organization and ended Uribe’s political career in 2019.
Prosecutor Javier Cárdenas
Cardenas asked in Bogota to overturn a ruling that rejected a prosecutor’s request to drop fraud and corruption charges earlier this year.
The court finds that it is unimaginable to claim that former Senator Uribe, in the broadest sense, intervened in the activity under investigation, which implies that it is unthinkable to conclude with certainty that — The suspect has nothing to do with it.
The prosecution first sought to unilaterally drop the charges against Uribe, but this was ruled illegally by another court.
The fees before the Supreme Court may land Uribe in jail and prompt the payment of fees owed for the former president’s alleged role in the formation of the AUC’s “Metro Bloc” in the late 1990s.
Several former members of the Metro Bloc have accused Uribe and his brother Santiago of founding the paramilitary organization with former members of the Medellín cartel.
The former president has denied having anything to do with the AUC and the now-defunct cartel in his home province of Antioquia.
Cárdenas only seeks to bury the former president’s alleged fraud and corruption practices, but has not conducted an investigation into Uribe’s alleged involvement in crimes against humanity.
The Supreme Court opened this investigation into Uribe’s alleged role in the massacres perpetrated through the AUC and former Medellín crime kingpin “Don Berna” in 2018.
Uribe resigned from the Senate and resigned from his congress in 2019, preventing the Supreme Court from officially indicting the former president for homicide.
Uribe’s resolve bypassed fraudulent investigations to the prosecutor’s office, which legally terminates them without court approval.
The failure of Cardenas to properly investigate Uribe’s alleged role in the paramilitary massacres could lead to legal problems for the prosecutor if evidence of obstruction emerges.
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