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This Monday, at 8:30 in the morning, the accusation hearing and the start of the trial against the ex-comptroller of Bogotá and ex-governor of Boyacá was planned, Juan Carlos Granados Becerra, for his alleged connection with the Odebrecht irregularities.
Granados, who on Thursday of last week was elected as one of the seven magistrates who will make up the National Commission for Judicial Discipline, and who came to that position from a shortlist sent by President Iván Duque himself, was summoned to attend the hearing this Monday that was summoned by the Special Trial Chamber of First Instance.
But nevertheless, the hearing could not be held Because before starting Granados, he revoked the power of the attorney who represented him in the case and asked to postpone the trial.
The Special Court of First Instance accepted Granados’ request since as he did not have a defender, the accusation could not be initiated. For now there is no new date on which the hearing will be held.
(Read the context of this news: Just elected to the Disciplinary Commission will go to trial this Monday).
The hearing was to be held by Judge Ariel Augusto Torres Rojas in the company of the other two judges in the room. At this impeachment hearing the high court was expected to indict him and announce what evidence will be taken into account against Granados for the trial.
(Read: Elected seven members of the Judicial Discipline Commission).
The process against the newly elected magistrate It began in 2018, when the Attorney General’s Office charged him with the Superior Court of Bogotá for allegedly trying to benefit Odebrecht when he was nominated and then governor of Boyacá between 2012 and 2015.
According to the prosecution’s indictment, Granados received money from Odebrecht to try to award him the Duitama-Charalá-San Gil road work. At the time, the Prosecutor’s Office pointed out that the former governor, who has always insisted that he is innocent, allegedly received between 3 and 5 percent of what the work cost. And in the process there is also an alleged payment that came through former senator Plinio Olano Becerra, of 200 million pesos, whose objective was supposedly to finance the campaign for the governor of Granados.
(Also: Member of the new Judicial Discipline Commission denies accusations).
Juan Carlos Granados placeholder image was elected in Congress to integrate the new Judicial Discipline Commission, which must replace the questioned Disciplinary Chamber of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, by a large vote of 186 supporters.
This new disciplinary commission, which investigates and judges judges, lawyers and prosecutors, must be formed before December 20. The 8-year term of all its 7 magistrates, including Granados, begins on January 11.
JUSTICE DRAFTING
Twitter: @JusticiaET
