The Colombian Prosecutor Generals Office Monday upheld the dismissal and 15-year ban from office of a former intelligence executive for illegal wire-tapping.
The appeal had been made by former DAS executive Martha Leal, who was punished for coordinating illegal surveillance during her 2004 to 2008 tenure in office.
It was also confirmed that a 10-year ban from office for former Coordinator of the DAS Technology Development Group Teresa Guzman would be upheld.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Leal and Guzman employed “irregular procedures, coordinated the study and analysis of cell phones seized from persons deprived of liberty, in order to extract, analyze and incorporate information from the equipment and the respective SIM cards for the so-called ‘Project X’ of the DAS.”
The Prosecutor’s Office did rescind a six-month suspension against former Deputy Director of the DAS Technology Development Group Jose Antonio Garcia.
Project X refers to the illegal wiretapping of Supreme Court judges and government opponents, which led to the dismantling of the agency. The scandal reached the upper echelons of then-president Alvaro Uribe’s administration, with his Chief of Staff Berardo Moreno being jailed and barred from office and former DAS Director Maria Del Pilar Hurtado fleeing to Panama to avoid prosecution.
The former president and a number of his closest allies are currently under criminal investigation.
