Colombia’s Supreme Court has ratified that it will not investigate former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) for alleged vote buying in favor of former president Iván Duque in the second round of the 2018 elections, in the framework of the case known as ‘ñeñepolítica’.
This is a response to an appeal filed by journalist Gonzalo Guillén to a previous ruling of the same court on November 3, 2022, with which it refrained from opening an investigation against Uribe despite «possible questions» about the role he would have played to obtain funds for the campaign of former president Duque.
However, what was discussed in those «legally intercepted calls» does not indicate «a fact or set of concrete or determinable facts that functionally involve Uribe», according to the ruling published by the newspaper ‘El Tiempo’.
In the framework of a murder investigation, conversations between Uribe’s then advisor, María Claudia Daza, and the now deceased drug trafficker Guillermo ‘Ñeñe’ Hernández were intercepted, in which they talked about «looking for money to pass under the table» in La Guajira and in the Caribbean region for the second round that pitted Duque against the now president, Gustavo Petro.
As ‘Ñeñe’ assured a person known as ‘Priscila’ — Daza resigned after it was revealed that she could be one of the voices participating in that conversation — «Ivan» and «Uribe» were responsible for sending him to the cities of Manaure, Uribia, Riohacha and Maicao to «win» in that region.
«We have to get our act together, we have to look for money to pass under the table and release it in the departments», said ‘Ñeñe’ Hernández, who regretted not having the money «that they stole from Vargas Lleras», in reference to Germán Vargas Lleras, vice-president during part of Juan Manuel Santos’ term in office.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
