Colombia’s Supreme Court and the country’s President, Alvaro Uribe, are set to clash again as the Court seems reluctant to choose a new Prosecutor General from the President’s shortlist.
Uribe had sent a shortlist of three candidates to succeed the current Prosecutor General. The Court was supposed to elect a new Prosecutor General last week, but failed to reach a decision. Monday, the second day of debate within the Court, also led to no election.
According to newspaper El Espectador, the Supreme Court has now sent a letter to Uribe, asking if the President himself thinks there is one candidate on the shortlist suitable for the position.
Outside the Court, the candidates have been criticized because not one has experience with penal law.
One candidate, Juan Angel Palacio, has been investigated for attempted bribery while a member of the State Council. Another candidate, Colombia’s former ambassador to the OAS Camilo Ospina, is alleged to have ties to emerald czar and former paramilitary ally Victor Carranza.
Mario Iguaran is set to resign Thursday. The Court has asked the assistant Prosecutor General to assume the top position of the Prosecutor General’s Office while the election process for a successor is still pending.