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.
Colombia’s constitutional court believes phones and offices are bugged
In a letter, the prosecutor general Nestor Humberto Martinez said that criminal organization comprised of former security officials could be behind the country’s recent wiretap claims.
Prosecutor General Nestor Humberto Martinez
In a pair of messages on Twitter, the court said it would ask the National Police and the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate if their equipment and personnel are used for possible wiretaps.
According to newspaper El Espectador, some magistrates believe that the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) could be implicated.
Several magistrates confirmed to the paper that they also believed their phone conversations were being leaked.
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.
The far-right Democratic Center part of Duque and his political patron Alvaro Uribe was caught conspiring with rogue elements in the military to spy on peace talks with the FARC in 2014.
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 accusations of wiretapping of the Constitutional Court were revealed just as political tensions are reaching a peak over the approval of z statutory law for the war crimes tribunal, and court investigations into the use of glyphosate in counternarcotics efforts and limits the the extradition of alleged war criminals.