On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, the Consultation Room of the Council of State could not define the necessary requirements to occupy the position of Attorney General of the Nation, due to a technical tie. The case, transferred to the court at the request of the Supreme Court of Justice, aims to unravel a legal mess, despite the fact that the new head of the disciplinary control body will take office in January 2025.
Since the end of 2023, the Council of State was evaluating a consultation from the Ministry of the Interior, arising from a request from the Supreme Court, to verify whether Carlos Felipe Córdoba, who served as Comptroller General of the Republic, met the requirements for the position. Attorney General of the Nation, replacing Margarita Cabello Blanco.
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As was known, the Consultation Room did not reach an agreement on the conditions of the profile that the new attorney must have. And to resolve this situation, a co-judge will be appointed, who will be in charge of settling this tie.
The discussion was intense and at one point it seemed favorable for the positive presentation of Córdoba, who wants to become Cabello Blanco’s successor. However, one of the judges raised doubts, in his opinion significant, about the necessary requirements to select the next attorney, which led to the decision to appoint a co-judge; that he will intervene in this important decision.
The debate was led by the speaker magistrate, María del Pilar Bahamón Falla, which reviewed the requirements to occupy the position of the new Attorney General. As a rule, the Attorney profile requires 15 years of experience in the Judicial Branch or as a lawyer in the field of law; However, the consultation sought to clarify whether it is possible to consider experience in a profession other than Law: as would be the case of former comptroller Córdoba.
The process has faced obstacles in the Council of State. Initially, The consultation was under the responsibility of Judge Óscar Darío Amaya, whose presentation was unsuccessful. Although he has experience in the Attorney General’s Office, he presented a proposal that failed, so the case was transferred to Bahamón Falla, who had to resolve whether the traditional requirements for the position were compatible with Córdoba’s profile. The lack of consensus forced the concept of a co-judge to be necessary.
The official, who plays a key role in the State’s organizational chart, He is elected for a period of four years from a shortlist proposed by the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Council of State.. In the case of Cabello, the former Minister of Justice took office on January 15, 2021, as successor to Fernando Carrillo Flórez and she will remain until that same date in 2025.
Faced with the upcoming process, the profile of Carlos Felipe Córdoba has generated a series of controversies around his professional career and the validity of his law degree. In this context, the senator of the Green Alliance, Ariel Ávila, has become one of the biggest critics of the former official’s aspiration, since he questioned the speed of his graduation and accused him of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis of the.
“He graduated from law school in two and a half years, becoming Comptroller General of the Nation.. He also graduated with a doctorate and plagiarized the thesis,” said Ávila, which raised alarms about the suitability of said profile. After the impact of these accusations, Córdoba filed a complaint against Ávila before the Investigative Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice for aggravated libel and slander.
According to the defense of the former comptroller, the congressman – former member of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, Pares – published a video with assertions that are not only untrue, “but they also attack my good name and even accuse me of being an active subject of different crimes.”. This seems to be the beginning of a tough fight in the courts between Ávila and Córdoba.
