Colombia’s Supreme Court again failed to pick a new chief prosecutor despite international pressure to do exactly that.
Consequently, acting Prosecutor General Martha Mancera will remain in office.
Mancera, who has been implicated in multiple corruption scandals, assumed office earlier this month when the term of former Prosecutor General Francisco Barbosa ended.
The court was supposed to pick Barbosa’s successor from a shortlist surrendered by President Gustavo Petro in December last year, but has so far failed to do so.
Supreme Court president Gerson Chaverra told press that none of the three candidates received the necessary 16 of 23 majority, but said he had “a good outlook for the election.”
The court’s failure to pick a new chief prosecutor ahead of Barbosa’s departure spurred protests in Bogota earlier this month.
The protesters demanded a duly elected chief prosecutor to prevent the office falling under the control of Mancera.
Unrest in Bogota after Colombia’s Supreme Court fails to pick new chief prosecutor
The acting prosecutor general has been covering up the alleged drug trafficking practices of the prosecution’s former Technical Investigations Unit director in the Pacific port city of Buenaventura.
Mancera additionally has additionally been accused of trying to cover up the alleged corruption of two prosecutors and an alleged smuggler from the city of Cali.