Former President Alvaro Uribe’s accusations of a judicial conspiracy against ex-Minister Andres Felipe Arias are not sustained by evidence, said the president of the judiciary’s disciplinary chamber according to El Tiempo.
President of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Judiciary Counsel Henry Villarraga declared that disciplinary jurisdiction cannot act based “on speculation and conjecture,” referring to Uribe’s Wednesday Twitter comments.
Uribe’s tweets cast doubt on the impartiality of Orlando Fierro, the judge who sentenced Arias to prison for the length of his trial.
Arias, who served as minister of agriculture under the Uribe administration, is accused of embezzling as much as $25 million worth of subsidies meant for poor farmers.
In response, Uribe claimed that Judge Fierro is biased against himself and Arias by association. The former president argued that Fierro has ties to a Supreme Court Justice Yesid Ramirez, a well-known Uribe critic.
Ramirez is currently suing the government for $1 million for being wiretapped under the Uribe administration.
The disciplinary chamber president requested that Uribe provide facts to back up his claims.
Judge Villarraga said that Uribe’s accusations were “a disservice to the country, making good citizens question the judges of the republic.”