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Colombia’s disgraced chief prosecutor was forced to admit that his own wiretap unit was used by an illegal spy network that, among other people, wiretapped pilots of airliner Avianca while they were on strike.
The company has denied ordering the wiretapping of the pilots’ labor union ACDAC that was illegally carried out by a group of state officials and former state officials at the alleged request of Laude Jose Fernandez, a former executive of now-defunct intelligence agency DAS.
Mayor Luis Quiroga (suspect)
Former intelligence chief wiretapped Avianca pilots during strike: prosecution
Prosecutor General Nestor Humberto Martinez, who has come under fire for allegedly trying to cover up bribery practices of Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht, admitted that the investigation revealed that his own office was being employed by the illegal spy network.
“We have evidence that some of these interceptions were carried out from the Prosecutor General’s Office itself,” Martinez said.
Prosecutor General Nestor Humberto Martinez
The arrested official is the head of one of the prosecution’s wiretap units in Bogota and had reportedly been working with the prosecution since 1994.
Despite Avianca’s apparent attempts to illegally spy on its striking workers, the company itself is not under investigation as none of the suspects have wanted to reveal who paid for the spy operation.
The company has denied any involvement in the wiretapping of its employees while in a heated dispute over pilot wages.
Following the strike, the company sacked at least 20 pilots, including the unionists that had organized the strike and negotiated wage hikes with the company.