Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Charged with Witness Tampering and Bribery

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has been charged in a long-running witness tampering investigation.

Uribe was formally charged on Friday with witness tampering and bribery for his efforts to discredit a political opponent who was digging into Uribe’s family ties to right-wing paramilitary groups.

The case dates back to 2012 when Uribe filed a complaint with the Supreme Court accusing a leftist lawmaker of slander.

In 2018, the high court dismissed the investigation and opened a new probe into Uribe, who was a senator then, for fraud and manipulating testimony.

If convicted, Uribe faces up to 12 years in prison. Uribe, who governed Colombia with strong US support from 2002 to 2010, has denied any wrongdoing and accused Colombia’s chief prosecutor’s office of “political vengeance”.

Allegations of ties to drug cartels and paramilitaries have dogged Uribe since the early 1980s when the civil aviation agency that he led was accused of giving air licenses to drug traffickers.