A new investigator has been appointed to decide whether or not to formally press charges against ex-president Alvaro Uribe in a scandal involving congress members taking bribes in exchange for support of his re-election in 2006.
Yahir Acuña will reopen the investigation of the bribery scandal that has already implicated several government officials, including the Interior Minister Sabas Pretelt de la Vega and the former Minister of Social Protection Diego Palacio Betancourt. Acuña’s investigation will now shift to the culpability of ex-president Uribe.
The former president is being investigated for his involvement in the scandal that entailed offering bribes to politicians, including former Congress members Yidis Medina and Teodolindo Avendaño, in exchange for their vote in favor of a 2004 constitutional change that authorized Uribe to run for re-election in 2006 for his second term.
The bribery allegations are widely known as “Yidispolitica” or “Yidis politics,” after ex-congresswoman Yidis Medina, who was convicted by the Supreme Court for accepting favors in exchange for a vote in support of the re-election.
According to Caracol Radio, both Medina and Avendaño will be interviewed by Acuña to assist the investigation of ex-president Uribe, who is also being investigating for planting illegal wiretaps in phones.