Colombia’s Prosecutor General banned two former DAS officials from holding office for 10-15 years on Thursday over their participation in illegal wiretapping.
Former DAS Deputy Director of Operations Martha Ines Leal Llanos was dismissed for 15 years, and the ex-coordinator of the Technology Development Group of the General Intelligence Directorate, Teresa Guzman Cortes, was dismissed for 10 years for their roles engaging in very serious breaches of discipline in the exercise of their duties as public servants.
The disciplinary investigation showed that the former officials illegally wiretapped officials such as former liberal Senator Piedad Cordoba, Bogota’s Mayor-elect Gustavo Petro, and the former president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Cesar Julio Valencia Copete, among others.
With these facts, the prosecutor general ruled that Leal and Cortes violated the privacy of several high-ranking persons without legal authorization, and that they did not live up to their requirements as public servants in exercising “extreme care” in their duties to avoid unnecessary violations of fundamental rights.
The former Deputy Director of the Technology Development of the General Directorate, Jose Antonio Garcia Linares, was also suspended for six months on the same charges.