The Attorney General’s Office concluded a crucial stage in the criminal trial against former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who faces charges for alleged bribery to witnesses and procedural fraud. As reported by the investigating entity, this phase included the presentation of key tests, such as testimonies, documents and telephone interceptions, which seek to support the hypothesis of an alleged plan to manipulate statements in favor of the ex -president. On Monday, May 5, Uribe will open the defense phase with his face -to -face statement in the courts of Paloquemao, in Bogotá.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the closing of this stage was in charge of a judicial police investigator attached to the Supreme Court of justice, which analyzed the telephone interceptions made to the Uribe cell phone in 2018. These recordings, ordered by the High Court, contain conversations that, according to the accusing entity, evidence possible attempts to obtain favorable testimonies through pressures or offerings. Among the witnesses presented by the Prosecutor’s Office are Senator Iván Cepeda, who appears as a victim in the process, and the convicted Juan Guillermo Monsalve, considered a key witness, in addition to several ex -ex -members of illegal armed groups.
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The accusing entity argues that the testimonies and interceptions point to an alleged effort on the part of Uribe and its surroundings to contact inmates with the aim of obtaining versions that denied the alleged links of the former president with paramilitarism. In one of the recordings reproduced during the trial, the lawyer Diego Cadena, former defense of Uribe, refer to a conversation with Monsalve in which the latter would have mentioned money offerings are heard. Cadena said that neither he nor Uribe made such offerings, but pointed out that Monsalve seemed willing to retract his statements.
The defense lawyer of Uribe, Jaime Granados, questioned the legality of telephone interceptions, arguing that the initially monitored number did not correspond to that of the exparamilitary Milton Córdoba, but that of the former president himself. According to Granados, this situation was warned by a communications analyst from the Prosecutor’s Office, but the Uribe line continued to be intercepted for an additional month. Carolina Vargas Villamil, former CTI and witness of the Prosecutor’s Office, acknowledged that he assumed his work without prior context on the case and subsequently dedicated himself exclusively to the file.
Another prominent moment of the trial was the reproduction of a call of April 3, 2018, in which Cadena warned Uribe that what happened with Monsalve could be a trap, according to previous conversations with another lawyer, Pardo Hasche. In addition, prosecutor Marlenne Orjuela reported that witness Luz Marina Pineda Muñoz could not give her statement due to health problems, which marked the closure of the prosecution of the Prosecutor’s Office.
With the end of this stage, the process enters a new phase in which the defense of Uribe will present its evidence. Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia set the beginning of this stage for Monday, May 5 at 8:30 am, when the former president will be the first to declare. Uribe has expressed his intention to testify in person, ensuring that he does it for respect to the administration of justice and public opinion. The judge also indicated that special security measures will be requested due to the processed condition.
The lawyer Jaime Granados must send the list with the order of the witnesses that the defense will present. Although the trial could be extended for several more months, Uribe’s statement is emerging as a turning point in a process that has both political and legal implications for the country.
