Colombia’s Supreme Court does not believe that any candidate on the list offered by President Alvaro Uribe meets the qualifications to become Prosecutor General.
After a five-hour meeting, the 23 judges of the chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice decided that neither the ex-ambassador to the OEA, Camilo Ospina, former state concillor Juan Ángel Palacio, nor lawyer Virginia Uribe were qualified to take over as Prosecutor General.
Current Prosecutor General Guillermo Mendoza Diago said that if the Court did not choose his replacement soon he would leave in October, reported newspaper El Espectador. In the face of this claim, Chief Justice Augusto Ibáñez said that he felt certain that a man with as much experience as Mendoza Diago would not abandon his post.
In the face of this deadlock, President Uribe, who gave his selected candidates his support in the face of the Court’s initial doubts, must rewrite his list of eligibles for the position of Prosecutor General of Colombia.
For the last month the Supreme Court had expressed its concerns regarding the list submitted by the Government.
When the names of the three candidates were released a number of criticisms arose, from the alleged insuitability of Virigina Uribe to the past scandals that have involved her two opponents.
The final outcome is as yet uncertain. El Espectador reported that ten judges had been inclined to place dummy votes, while the other six wanted to return the list to the President.
