The DAS suspected of having run illegal wiretap operations for the DAS admitted that Colombia’s
intelligence agency used illegal wiretaps, radio station La FM revealed Tuesday.
The radio station revealed parts of Jaime Fernando Ovalle’s testimonies
wherein the former DAS official confesses the DAS illegally monitored
high officials and public personalities.
Ovalle was director of the so-called G-3 unit, an internal group of the DAS created to spy on various social organizations and journalists. The former DAS official was sacked from the agency in October 2008 when
opposition Senator Gustavo Petro discovered the DAS was intercepting
his phone calls and e-mails.
“Yes, the G-3 received interceptions of managements of NGOs, which came from the General Directorate of Intelligence…,” Ovalle admitted.
The former DAS official also said that the G-3 never was legally established. The orders for their work were made orally and never with judicial authorization.
Ovalle assured that the operations of the G-3 always had the backing of the then DAS director Jorge Noguera, the deputy director Jose Miguel Narvaez and the Head of Intelligence. A former DAS director recently also admitted to the illegal wiretaps.
According to Ovalle, the G-3 unit operated until December last year when the scandal broke.