A judge of the 41st Criminal Court of Bogotá denied, for the second time, to close an investigation against former Colombian expresident Álvaro Uribe Vélez, for alleged witness tampering and procedural fraud.
Judge Laura Becerra pointed out that the Prosecutor's Office did not present the necessary arguments to close the case and decided not to preclude the first case against the former president, since he allegedly participated in the bribery of the witness Juan Guillermo Monsalve, through the lawyer Diego Cadena.
According to Becerra, "It is clear that the investigating entity should have made a serious effort to establish all the factual particularities being investigated, in other words, to act with greater thoroughness".
"Contrary to the prosecutor's assertion, there are probative elements, physical evidence and legally obtained information that allows us to affirm with the probability of truth that the criminal conduct of bribery did occur and that Dr. Uribe may have the condition of the participant," said the judge.
The case could result in a sentence of up to 12 years for the politician.
Uribe did not comment directly on the decision, but on his Twitter account he criticized the "leaks" of the ruling to journalists, which in his opinion "deny impartiality".
The Attorney General's Office may appeal the judge's decision to the Superior Court of Bogotá, a higher instance in Colombia's judicial system, which could uphold the ruling or overturn it.
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