The governor of the north Colombia Cordoba department named interim mayors for two towns whose elected mayors are in jail.
The two interim mayors were appointed while the Liberal Party and the U Party, who had endorsed the jailed mayors, find a replacement.
The news that the two mayors, of which at least one was arrested ten day before his election on October 30, last year, were inaugurated over the weekend while incarcerated caused outrage among judicial and government officials.
However, the superintendent for notaries and registries denied to Caracol Radio on Wednesday that the two jailed mayors were inaugurated in their Bogota prison cells.
“Over the weekend no notary entered the jail as was confirmed by its director,” said Superintendent Jorge Enrique Velez.
Velez’s statement had earlier been denied by teh Colombian prison authority INPEC who had said that a Bogota notary had sworn in the mayors on Friday and Saturday.
