Colombia’s far-right former President Alvaro Uribe pled not guilty to fraud and bribery charges before a Bogota court on Thursday.
The not guilty plea came after failed attempt by Uribe’s defense attorney, Jaime Granados, to postpone the court case that began with a Supreme Court investigation in Febeuary 2018.
The prosecution said that it had documentary evidence and 44 witnesses that would be willing to confirm that Uribe tried to bribe witnesses to counter testimonies he and his brother Santiago formed a paramilitary group in the 1990’s.
The fraud charge relates to Uribe’s attempt to sue Senator Ivan Cepeda based on these false testimonies in 2014.
Cepeda, a critic of the former president, drew the ire of the former president after releasing testimonies of two former members of paramilitary organization AUC who claimed that Uribe and his brother Santiago helped found the notorious “Bloque Metro” group at their family estate in the Antioquia province.
The former president had long been accused of ties to the AUC, but had been able to evade justice over his alleged involvement in human rights violations until after leaving office in 2010.
The prosecution said that Uribe and one of his handlers, Diego Cadena, stepped up their bribery practices to defend himself against the criminal charges brought by the Supreme Court.
Other false witnesses were supposed to discredit former Prosecutor General Eduardo Montealegre, who had opened criminal investigations against Uribe for his alleged role in two massacres and the homicide of a human rights defender.
Both Montealegre and Cepeda were represented by their lawyers in Thursday’s hearing.
The prosecution said that they will testify about how Uribe’s alleged fraud and bribery practices affected them.
