Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has eight pending criminal investigations against him, the country’s interior and justice minister announced Thursday.
According to Minister German Vargas Lleras, the majority of investigations, carried out by Congress’ Accusations Commission, were initiated when Santos was defense minister under President Alvaro Uribe.
The criminal complaints were initially investigated by the judicial authorities, but transferred to the commission when Santos became president in August last year.
The most prominent of the investigations is about an attack on a FARC camp on Ecuadorean soil, which killed the guerrilla organization’s second-in-command, “Raul Reyes.”
The most recent investigation is concerned with the appointment of the country’s new prosecutor general. Santos is accused of overstepping his constitutional rights as president by disregarding the shortlist handed to the Supreme Court by Uribe and replacing it with a new shortlist.