Colombia’s Supreme Court will investigate the country’s housing minister for his alleged ties to paramilitary groups, local media reported Wednesday.
The court’s investigation comes at the request of minister German Vargas Lleras, who since July 5 has denied links to the captured paramilitary commander Hector German Buitrago, alias “Martin Llanos,” once head of the paramilitary group, the Self Defense Forces of Casares. Llanos, called Colombia’s “last paramilitary warlord,” is suspected of providing political and electoral support to Vargas Lleras in his 2002 run for senate.
Vargas Lleras has accused former President Alvaro Uribe’s brother of bribing witnesses to give false testimony against him. The former officials testified that Vargas Lleras met with Llanos during his campaign and that he had other ties with paramilitary groups in the eastern department of Casanare, where Llanos was active until his arrest in February.
At the start of the prosecutor general’s first investigation against Vargas Lleras, ex-President Uribe called Vargas Lleras “an ambitious man who has no moral limits.”