Former Justice and Interior Minister Fabio Valencia Cossio wades into a dispute between Alvaro Uribe and former Supreme Court President Cesar Julio Valencia Copete, reports Radio Santa Fe.
The ex-minister issued a statement denying that Uribe had asked him in 2008 to go to the Supreme Court to seek a reconciliation with the magistrate, as Valencia Copete’s lawyer claims.
The trouble between the president and the judge started with a phone call in 2007, in which Valencia Copete claims Uribe asked him for information about a case against his cousin, Mario Uribe. Uribe sued Valencia Copete for slander in early 2008.
The debate re-exploded this week, after Uribe on Monday released a statement denying he had asked about his cousin in the phone call.
Valencia Copete’s lawyer then said that Uribe had sought a conciliation with his client before launching the legal suit, via then-Justice and Interior Minister Valencia Cossio.
Valencia Cossio issued his denial, and said that an agreement in the matter could only have been made if Valencia Copete publicly acknowleged that Uribe had not mentioned any member of his family during a 2007 phone call about a paramilitary case.
Mario Uribe is currently in jail on charges of collaborating with paramilitaries.