Colombia Names New Attorney General Amid Probes of Petro Allies
(Bloomberg) -- Colombia’s top court elected a new Attorney General after months of clashes between the judicial branch and President Gustavo Petro.
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Corruption investigator Luz Adriana Camargo was chosen as the nation’s new top prosecutor with 18 votes out of 23, the president of the court, Gerson Chaverra, told reporters in Bogotá.
Camargo will oversee critical investigations related to close aides of Petro. These include his son Nicolás Petro, accused of illicit enrichment with donations linked to his father’s 2022 presidential campaign, and Ricardo Roa, the current CEO of the state oil producer Ecopetrol.
In Colombia, the supreme court selects the attorney general from three candidates proposed by the president. Petro had protested about delays in choosing the new prosecutor, accusing outgoing Attorney General Francisco Barbosa and his deputy of plotting to remove him from office.
Petro had a strained relationship with Barbosa, a vocal critic of his administration who had been appointed by former President Ivan Duque.
Last month, protesting Petro supporters blocked the court’s entrance to try to pressure the magistrates to speed up their decision. Petro has repeatedly attacked the top courts after they overturned measures including one that would have increased taxes for oil drillers and coal producers, and another that would have given him emergency powers.
Camargo previously worked at the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, an initiative set up between the UN and the Central American government to root out graft.
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