Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe was personally informed about the illegal wiretapping carried out by intelligence agency DAS, RCN Radio reported Friday, based on the testimony of a former executive of the agency.
The radio station said it possessed testimonies by William Romero, the former spy chief of the DAS, who earlier confirmed testimonies of others on the involvement of the President’s Office and the Interior and Justice Ministry in the illegal wiretapping of Supreme Court magistrates, journalists, politicians and human rights workers.
It is the first time Uribe is explicitly mentioned as involved in the scandal that forced him to initiate the dismantling of the intelligence agency.
According to RCN, Romero testified he “was summoned to the office of [former DAS director] Maria del Pilar Hurtado, who told [former intelligence director Fernando] Tabares and me that former President Uribe was informed about the delivered reports in the morning and was pleased with them.”
The quotes from the testimony obtained by RCN are similar to the ones leaked to newspaper El Espectador earlier this week. However, in the El Espectador report Uribe was not explicitly mentioned and Romero spoke of “the 1” in the President’s Office.
Romero, currently trying to reach an agreement with prosecutors on his sentencing, earlier delivered boxes of alleged evidence of the illegal wiretaps to investigators.
Following revelations that the intelligence agency was illegally spying on government opponents, Uribe initiated a process that will lead to the dismantling of the service. Several of his closest aides are under criminal investigation and the inspector general barred Uribe’s former chief of staff from holding any public office for 20 years because of his involvement in the wiretap scandal.
