Colombia’s highest administrative court declared Senator Juan Lozano innocent of influence peddling during his time as head of the country’s U Party, local media reported Wednesday.
Lozano, who left his post as director of the liberal conservative political party in May, was charged with influence peddling after he placed one of his wife’s former employees on the shortlist for the governor of Casanare vacancy.
The governor of the eastern department of Casanare, Oscar Florez, lost his job in April 2011 when he was implicated in a corruption scandal. Under the Colombian political system, when a politician is removed from office, the chairman of his political party drafts a shortlist of replacement candidates. The president selects a candidate from that list.
Lozano did not deny that Gonfier Martha, who he had included on the list, had assisted his wife in her role as director of the newspaper Llano 7 Dias, but testified that 15 years had passed since they had worked together.
Had the court convicted Lozano, he could have faced a permanent ban from holding political office in Colombia.