Colombia’s controversy-ridden former President Alvaro Uribe has claimed to have sufficient evidence to prove that current President Juan Manuel Santos used $12 million worth of drug money to fund his 2010 campaign.
According to Radio Santa Fe, the claims were made during Uribe’s testimony to the Prosecutor General in regards to allegations that President Santos used illegal drug money to fund his first presidential campaign.
In a short statement, Uribe said he “confirmed the information provided to the Prosecutor General. The lines of information contain enough information to begin the inquiry into the $ 12 million used by the drug policy advisers of the President of the Republic and into the procedures carried out by the Government.”
Uribe’s attorney had previously admitted the former president did not have evidence.
MORE: Uribe has no proof of Santos drug money claim, admits lawyer
According to a leaked recording of Uribe giving testimony at the Inspector General’s Office, his evidence consists of a claim made by Uribe ally Oscar Holmes Trujillo, who had told the former president that the alleged, but unnamed attorney of extradited “Rastrojos” boss “Diego Rastrojo” was willing to testify he had given $12 million to the Santos campaign.
However, former Cali mayor Ricardo Cobo, who had been present at the meeting, subsequently corrected Uribe saying the attorney had said to be “willing to ask his client about the money.”
Nevertheless, the former president and now-senator claimed on Tuesday to have information that $2 million from this alleged drug money was given to the campaign by advisers.
Uribe has been hounded in the Colombia press since his fall from power in 2010 and has been involved in a number of scandals which have rocked Colombian politics and society, most notably the False positives cases, which horrified the world with stories of extra judicial killings of civilians by Colombia army troops to raise figures of rebels killed in action.
Uribe was also linked to the 2008 “Colombian Watergate” scandal, which sparked a worldwide outrage.
The 2008 case implicated the former Colombian president as the alleged force behind illegal phone-tapping and surveillance of Supreme Court judges, journalists, human rights defenders and politicians but also drew ties to the US — a close ally and financial contributor to Colombia.
Sources
- Uribe dice que hay pruebas suficientes para investigar narcodineros en campaña de Santos (Radio Santa Fe)
