Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe told the Supreme Court that witness statements he gave the court had been fabricated by his fixer, according to weekly Semana.
In his latest column, journalist Daniel Coronell published a new set of snippets of court transcripts, this time revealing that Uribe admitted he was aware that evidence surrendered to the court had been fabricated by mafia lawyer Diego Cadena.
Last week, the journalist revealed Uribe told magistrate Cesar Reyes he was “worried and distressed” after his first day in court, apparently for good reason.
Why Uribe might be ‘worried and distressed’ over Colombia’s trial of the century
The snippets released this week would give the former president even more reasons to be worried about a possible six to eight years prison sentence.
Despite knowing about the fraudulent witness testimonies, neither Uribe nor his defense attorneys took action to withdraw the fabricated evidence.
Magistrate: Did lawyer Cadena tell you that he had written the letter himself?
Uribe: Had he consulted me, I would have told him firmly that he couldn’t do that. Later, when he told me afterwards, I told him: “Man, Diego, how can you do that?”
One of the letters had been signed by “Victor,” the paramilitary fighter who admitted in September he had received money to sustain the claims made in the letter.
Magistrate Cesar Reyes apparently found that three more written testimonies surrendered by Uribe’s defense had been fabricated by the former president’s fixer.
Uribe told the magistrate he was only aware of Victor’s letter.
How Uribe’s fixer tries to avoid Colombia issuing an arrest warrant
What is unclear is if these letters were surrendered as evidence to support Uribe’s 2014 bogus criminal charges against opposition Senator Ivan Cepeda or after the court opened a criminal investigation against the former president last year.
What is reportedly increasingly evident is that Cadena committed fraud, that Uribe knew about it and didn’t do anything.
The former president may be a talented politician, but his legal strategies have been nothing but a disaster.
Uribe is in court because he filed witness tampering charges against Cepeda, but the court found evidence of the former president’s alleged bribery practices instead.
How Colombia’s former president ended up with one foot in prison
Victor confirmed having received money and surrendered evidence to prove it.
Colombia’s controversial former president indicated last month he might retire from politics at the end of his term as senator in 2022. Considering the way things appear to be going in court, Uribe may not make it that far.
