Colombia’s Prosecutor General Viviane Morales took over the cases against ex-Interior and Justice Minister Sabas Pretelt de la Vega and ex-Social Protection Minister Diego Palacio for their involvement in the “yidispolitica” scandal, reported El Colombiano on Tuesday.
The Colombian Supreme Court had nullified the bribery charges against Pretelt de la Vega one week ago because the Prosecutor General’s Office had made an error in the proceeding that made Vice Prosecutor General Fernando Pareja in charge of the case instead of Guillermo Mendoza Diago, who was the prosecutor general at the time.
The charges against Pretelt de la Vega and Palacio are for conspiring to bribe politicians, including former Congresswoman Yidis Medina, in exchange for their vote in favor of a 2004 constitutional change that authorized Uribe to run for re-election in 2006 for his second term.
Morales decided to announce the nullification Tuesday so that she could “personally assume responsibility for the two cases.” Colombia’s prosecutor general stressed that these changes will not have a big affect on the investigations and that in the next few months she will be in charge of presenting the new formal accusations against the two ex-ministers.
