The lead investigator in the case regarding former President Alvaro Uribe’s alleged involvement in the administration’s illegal wiretapping scandal renounced his post on Wednesday.
Conservative Party Congressman Alfredo Bocanegra, former head of the Congressional Committee of Accusations, said his decision to depart from the investigation was not motivated by personal threats.
He went on to explain, “I prefer to recuperate my critical independence in Congress to push forward big themes of political control, than to remain silent with the pretext that I am an investigator of one of the many charges put forth against Uribe.”
“I will not renounce my critical independence,” said the Tolima congressman.
In late March, Uribe called the investigator and chastised him for comments the congressman made in a Tolima newspaper regarding the investigation.
The former president was apparently upset that Bocanegra had said, “I will not be the Heyne Mogollon of Uribe,” in reference to the former congressman and investigator in a case against then-President Ernesto Samper, who requested that the former leader be absolved of charges.
Bocanegra was also accosted by Uribe for not providing any guarantees for the development of the former president’s case, despite the fact that earlier reports indicate that the congressman said guarantees would indeed be given.
Even though he says he did not receive any threats, Bocanegra admitted that there were various pressures placed on him, and criticized the former president for these accusations.
“Remaining coordinator of the wiretap investigation is making me a mental case and a verbal hostage because the phenomenon of the wiretaps is serious, aberrant and unjustifiable,” said the former leader of the congressional investigation.
The investigation into Uribe’s role in the wiretapping scandal began in October 2010. Many members of his staff, including members of Colombia’s intelligence agency DAS, which reported directly to him, have been implicated in the scandal.