A mushrooming wiretapping scandal has led to the temporary suspension of debates on President Gustavo Petro’s pending reform proposals.

On top of that, the National Electoral Council (CNE) summoned Petro’s former chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, and former ambassador in Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, to testify about alleged irregularities in the finances of the president’s 2022 election campaign.

The president sacked his chief of staff and ambassador over their involvement in the scandal.

According to Prosecutor General Francisco Barbosa, Sarabia’s former nanny and her former maid were wiretapped illegally after the former chief of staff reported the theft of $4,000 from her home in Bogota.

The policeman who requested the wiretapping said that a member of paramilitary organization AGC gave him the phone numbers, claiming they were domestic workers of “Siopas.”

The body of this AGC commander was found in northwest Colombia less than a month after the allegedly illegal wiretapping.

The prosecution’s claim

The prosecution last week included the wiretapping in an investigation into alleged abuse of power by the authorities to recover the money that was stolen from Sarabia on January 29.

In a press release, the prosecution said that the cop requested to wiretap of the nanny and the maid as part of an investigation into Siopas on January 30.

According to the prosecution, the cop induced the prosecutor investigating Siopas to commit an error and warrant the wiretaps as part of his investigation into the late AGC boss.

The prosecutor revoked the warrant on February 9 after the official in charge of the wiretapping learned out that the nanny and the maid had nothing to do with Siopas.

The cop’s claim

The undercover cop told W Radio that he was induced to commit an error by his informant, a member of the AGC who had proven to be reliable in a previous investigation.

This informant told the cop on January 30 that Sarabia’s domestic employees were known as “The Cook” and “The Godmother,” and providing services to Siopas’ forces in the western Choco province.

According to the cop, he personally requested the prosecution to end the wiretaps on February 3 after he was informed by the investigators that as many as six wiretapped numbers were not related to Siopas.

The prosecution didn’t revoke the warrant until two days before the office issued a warrant to arrest the paramilitary commander on February 11, according to the cop.

The cop’s defense attorney, Miguel angel del Rio, said that the prosecutor who was investigating the theft in Sarabia’s home ordered to wiretap the nanny and the maid while they were part of the Siopas investigation.

Del Rio, who is a member of Petro’s Historic Pact party, suggested that Barbosa is trying to smear the administration in the run-up of local elections that are held in October.

Miguel Angel del Rio

Del Rio’s claims imply that the prosecution knew about the wiretaps in February already, but didn’t make this public until after the former nanny accused Petro’s right-hand woman of abusing her power.

Dead paramilitaries

The cop additionally told W Radio that he hadn’t heard from his informant after the wiretapping tip and is presumed dead.

Siopas was allegedly kidnapped less than a week after the prosecution issued an arrest warrant and was assassinated near the town of Dabeiba on March 1.

There was no arrest warrant against the long-time AGC commander while the police and prosecutors were investigating Siopas.