A Colombian congressman resigned from the congressional investigative commission after pulling out of the investigation of ex-President Alvaro Uribe regarding his participation in a wiretapping scandal.
Representative Camilo Abril announced that he was leaving the commission after its failure to produce any results in the investigation of ex-President Uribe’s participation in the Supreme Court wiretapping scandal.
Abril said that the committee had a “lack of teeth” and that “it is an inoperative committee.” The congressman called for the creation of a “a special tribunal to investigate the judges of the high courts, the prosecutor general of the nation, the president of the republic and ex-presidents.”
Representative Abril had been investigating Uribe on wiretapping charges previously, but later removed himself from active investigations saying that he had received death threats.
During the Uribe administration, Supreme Court justices, left-wing politicians, and human rights workers were wiretapped by Colombia’s intelligence agency, the DAS. The former head of the DAS and secretary general are currently facing trial for their part in the scandal. Maria del Pilar Hurtado, the former DAS chief has fled to Panama where she has been granted asylum.
