From Columbia Reports
Colombia’s prosecution launches investigation into bugging of Constitutional Court
Colombia’s prosecutor general has launched an investigation into the possible eavesdropping of the Constitutional Court that complained about possible bugs and wiretaps earlier this week.
Colombia’s constitutional court said on Sunday it had been meeting in Club Nogal outside its normal offices citing suspicions that the court’s own offices are bugged and phone lines are being intercepted.
The prosecution and Colombian intelligence agencies have previously been caught using state equipment for illegal wiretaps, and rogue military and intelligence personnel have been caught selling information obtained through illegal wiretaps to the private sector and state agencies.
In December of 2018, the prosecutor general’s office was forced to admit it’s equipment was used by an illegal spy network to wiretap Avianca pilots that were on strike.
In August, four top military and government officials were arrested for illegally spying on both foreign and national persons of interest. The company, A and G Seguridad, was run by Bogota’s former chief of police, and offered surveillance services to both state agencies and the private sector.
The possible wiretapping of a high court brings back memories to 2008 when now-defunct intelligence agency DAS bugged the Supreme Court while it was investigating former Senator Mario Uribe, the cousin of then-President Alvaro Uribe.