A high court has warned Colombia’s finance minister could spend two days in jail for allegedly disobeying a writ of protection, local media reported.
According to the Disciplinary Chamber of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, Minister Mauricio Cardenas owes backpay to a former employee of the San Juan de Dios Foundation and ignored a 2007 order by the Council of the Judiciary to settle the debt, reported newspaper El Mundo Wednesday.
The minister’s failure to pay the overdue salary and consequent breach of the court order to do so could result in a penalty of two days in jail, as well as fine of five times his minimum monthly wage.
This is not the minister’s first brush with the penal system for failure to pay employees; In 2003, a Bogota judge ordered his 14-day imprisonment for ignoring a number of rulings that obligated him to secure the pay of former hospital workers.
MORE: Colombia’s finance minister sentenced to 14 days in prison after ignoring court ruling