José Leonidas Bustos, from powerful Colombian judge to former “unworthy” magistrate indicted by the “toga cartel”

On January 22, 2015, the Plenary Chamber of the The Supreme Court of Justice elected magistrate José Leonidas Bustos Martínez president of this corporation., who came to this high court in 2008, and is now under investigation for allegedly receiving bribes and leading a network to change proceedings against high-ranking officials ‘toga poster’.

Achieving the presidency of the Supreme Court means for any judge in the country rising to the top of the judiciary, since it is the highest court of ordinary jurisdiction. At the time, it was no surprise that someone like Bustos had risen to this position as he had already built a solid career in the Courthouse and was considered a powerful judge.

He jumped into public opinion many years ago, during the court’s confrontation with the The government of Álvaro UribeIt is this magistrate who was the protagonist of a defense of the role played by the Court and also proved to be one of the victims of the blows carried by the defunct Administrative Directorate of Security (DAS).

The magistrate was born in Ibagué (Tolima), graduated from the Free University, holds a master’s degree in criminal law, a specialization in criminal sciences and a doctorate in legal sociology and political institutions from the Externado University, with a Masters in Law and Legal Theory from the National University and in Procedural Law and specialization in Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory from the Free University.

Before being elected judge of the Court in 2008, His professional career was linked to the independent exercise of the profession and the academy. He was the director of the Criminal Law Department at Universidad Libre and a teacher in undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as other recognized law schools in the country. After being appointed magistrate of the Criminal Cassation Chamber, he was its president.

When he held the presidency of the Supreme Court, the country experienced a lively debate on the peace process with the FARC led by the government of Juan Manuel Santos, and Bustos represented an endorsement which encouraged the executive of the judiciary to implement this agreement which was finally signed in 2016.

From power to the bench

In 2017 and while he had already left the presidency of the Supreme Court, they captured the anti-corruption prosecutor Gustavo Moreno for demanding the payment of bribes in favor of the former governor of Cordoba Alejandro Lyons Muskus, who has been implicated in several investigations for irregularities in contracts of millionaires.

With Moreno’s downfall, more details began to be revealed about what was a criminal corruption network that ended up splashing judges Leonidas Bustos and Francisco Ricaurte. In October 2017, we learned that the former magistrate Leonidas Bustos traveled to Miami and Panama at least twice with prosecutor Moreno; negotiated with him a BMW of 110 million pesos; He recommended him to be the defender of Senator Hernán Andrade and received him 29 times in his office of the Supreme Court, as published by El Tiempo.

In addition, the Office of the Prosecutor and the House Charges Committee found that during the years when Bustos was a powerful judge of the court, he allegedly opened investigations against members of Congress and other politicians who committed crimes such as the case of former Senator Musa Besaile convicted of embezzlement and corruption.

In the following years, the investigation against these magistrates progressed at a slow pace and it was until the extradition of the former anti-corruption prosecutor Moreno from the United States to Colombia that interest continued. again activated to know how this network which was named ‘cartel of the toga’.

In January this year, Moreno, who is already paying a sentence, told Noticias Caracol that Bustos was responsible for the bribes and he had to pretend. “I think it’s very easy to defend yourself from the underground, like a professional bandit. I believe that, by the majesty of justice, Dr Leonidas has to show his face, he says the gown poster did not exist. It’s unusual, of course it has existed “, Moreno pointed out.

And he went into the details: “He (Bustos) must then explain to the country what the woman did with the truck that I gave him and which was in his name and before it was in my name. What did he do with the Cartier (watch) he received because of the corruption, what happened to this car which had a leading man, a BMW and which ended up in my head, that explains the trips abroad “.

On this matter, the Plenary of the Senate approved today, June 18, the indictment of the House of Representatives against former magistrate Bustos And now your case will go to the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, from where you can request your extradition or request a red circular from Interpol to face the criminal trial.

The powerful judge has been left without jurisdiction and declared “unworthy” by Congress and it will be the same Supreme Court, which he himself headed, that will investigate him.

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