Colombia’s Inspector General started an investigation Friday against
three high officials of the Presidency. A former DAS
counterintelligence director had testified they had ordered the illegal
wiretapping of Supreme Court judges, opposition politicians and
journalists.
The investigates officials are press secretary Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, presidential adviser Jorge Mauricio Eastman Robledo and President Alvaro Uribe’s personal secretary Bernardo Moreno. Presidential adviser Jose Obdulio Gaviria, who was also implicated by the former DAS official, is not being investigated.
The Inspector General’s Office also announced the investigation against former DAS directors Andres Peñate and Jorge Noguera and former deputy directur and current intelligence director of the DAS, Jose Miguel Narvaez. The Director of Colombia’s Financial Information and Analysis Unit, Mario Alejandro Aranguren Rincon is also being investigated.
“These officials of the Presidency of the Republic, the DAS and the Financial Information and Analysis Unit will have to give explanation for the alleged illegal wiretapping and monitoring by the Administrative and Security Department DAS of several personalities, including judges, journalists, congressmen and members of the security forces,” the Inspector General’s Office announced.
The Inspector General will also investigate officials of the Prosecutor General’s Office who leaked information regarding the testimony of former DAS official Jorge Alberto Lagos to the press. It was this testimony that linked the Presidency to the wiretapping scandal that’s been haunting the DAS for months.
After this week’s revelation about the alleged involvement of the Presidency in the scandal, the Supreme Court asked United Nations Human Rights delegate Christopher Salazar to intervene.
