A Colombian High Court official requested the investigation of Inspector General’s office employee Maria Eugenia Carreño, who publicly criticized the Court’s decision to reinstate disgraced governor Juan Carlos Abadia.
Julia Emma Garzon, president of the High Court’s Council of the Judiciary on Thursday requested an official investigation into Carreño’s declaration on national radio that the “judiciary seems like a refuge for the dismissed and disciplined.”
Garzon appealed to Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez to conduct a disciplinary investigation into the behavior the official, which Garzon found offensive and out of line with the official’s authority.
“We have ordered copies [of the transcript] to be sent to the Inspector General of the nation, so that he may hold a disciplinary investigation into the conduct of Doctor Maria Eugenia Carreño, who is a subordinate and official for that entity,” said Garzon.
Carreño originally ruled that Valle del Cauca governor Abadia should be banned from holding public office for ten years after the governor allegedly illegally supported former Agriculture Minister Andres Felipe Arias’ bid for the presidency in the Conservative Party primaries.
Last week the High Council of the Judiciary temporarily lifted the ban – on the grounds the trial of the governor was not carried out in accordance with due process – but the dismissal was quickly followed by a request from the Inspector General’s Office for it to be reimposed.
On Wednesday, however, Colombia’s Sectional Council of the Judiciary ruled that Juan Carlos Abadia should be reinstated into office.
The Inspector General’s Office, which initially imposed the ten-year ban, said that the suspension of the ban “makes a mockery of disciplinary functions and public order and morality.”
According to Colombian law, elected officials are not allowed to interfere in or influence elections in any way, meaning that they are barred from openly supporting or opposing candidates.