A week after resigning from the Colombia’s senate, influential former president Alvaro Uribe changed his mind on Wednesday, asking his colleagues to ignore his previous request.

Uribe sent his resignation letter last week after he was formally placed under investigation by the Supreme Court for alleged bribery and fraud, writing on Twitter that he felt “morally impeded from being a senator.”

But he was back on that same social media platform on Wednesday asking senate leader Ernesto Macias, a member of his Democratic Center party, to “not take into consideration” his previous resignation.

He said his about-turn was motivated by a desire to let the country’s highest judicial authority investigate the allegations against him.

Had he continued with his resignation, and ceased to be a senator, it would have been a lower court that would have looked into his case.

Uribe added on Twitter that in originally resigning, “it never entered my head that the Supreme Court would not hear the case for which I’m being investigated.”

President from 2002 to 2010, Uribe was only sworn in as a senator less than two weeks ago having garnered the highest number of votes in March’s legislative elections.

Earlier this year, Uribe made a formal complaint to the Supreme Court against opposition politician Ivan Cepeda, accusing him of a plot to incriminate the ex-president in criminal involvement with right-wing paramilitary groups, and witness manipulation.

Those allegations date back to 2012.

Investigators not only rejected the complaint but started investigating Uribe for witness interference.

It was a blow to incoming president Ivan Duque, also a member of Uribe’s right-wing party and who takes office in less than a week.

Duque said last week he was sure his political mentor’s “honor and innocence will prevail.” – Punch

– Aug. 1, 2018 @ 17:29 GMT |