US AMBASSADOR to Colombia Kevin Whitaker refused to comment today on whether former agriculture minister Andres Felipe Arias would be extradited to Colombia following his corruption conviction.

Any extradition request would be evaluated in accordance with US law, he said.

Mr Arias, a close ally of former president Alvaro Uribe, was sentenced in absentia to more than 17 years in prison for diverting farm subsidies.

Colombia’s Supreme Court handed down the sentence against Mr Arias after he was found guilty of taking money intended for small farmers and channelling it to some of the country’s richest landowners.

The former minister, who is thought to be in the US, denied any wrongdoing.

Other Uribe allies facing charges are the former president’s top legal adviser and a former peace commissioner in his Washington-backed 2002-10 administration.

Mr Uribe claimed that Mr Arias is a victim of “political persecution” by the government of President Juan Manuel Santos.