BOGOTA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's ex-president Alvaro Uribe on Wednesday revoked the letter of resignation from the Senate he submitted after the Supreme Court of Justice launched a criminal investigation against him.
"I have asked Senator Ernesto Macias, leader of the Senate, to withhold my letter of resignation," Uribe said via Twitter.
This will make his case remain within the Supreme Court's jurisdiction.
Last week, Uribe said he was quitting to focus on his defense, but critics said his real intention was to stop the high court from investigating his alleged crimes, including threatening witnesses called to testify against him.
The Supreme Court is tasked with investigating elected officials. If Uribe were to renounce his Senate seat, then his case would be handled by the Prosecutor General's Office.
Addressing those accusations, Uribe said "it never crossed my mind that the Supreme Court should drop the case I have been called on to testify."
Macias has agreed to ignore the letter, saying he plans to personally return it to Uribe.
The investigation into Uribe was opened after he accused leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda of witness tampering while he researched Uribe's connections to paramilitary groups for a book.
In the process of investigating that claim, the court found evidence witnesses had been threatened and possibly killed by associates of Uribe.
On Monday, Uribe and his legal team recused the three supreme court judges that launched the investigation against him, accusing them of bias.
Uribe served as a two-term president of the South American country from 2002 to 2010. He is the political mentor of Ivan Duque of the right-wing Democratic Center party, who won Colombia's presidential election in June and would succeed President Juan Manuel Santos on Aug. 7.
Uribe is set to appear before the court in September.
