Colombia’s Inspector General’s Office has officially begun an investigation into the director of Colombia’s intelligence agency DAS, Colombian media reported.
DAS chief Felipe Muñoz is being investigated for failing to report the illegal interception of unionists’ emails by DAS employees.
According to the reports, the Inspector General’s Office found a folder named “October 2007 special case” during the investigation of former DAS director Jorge Noguera, who was recently sentenced to 25 years for allowing paramilitaries to infiltrate the agency. The folder allegedly alluded to the illegally surveilling union members.
Evidence suggests that the illegal interception of emails was carried out by the “G3” unit of the DAS, which was in charge of illegally wiretapping opposition politicians, human rights workers and journalists.
Also included in the investigation is former DAS director Maria del Pilar Hurtado, who is also being investigated for her role the DAS wiretap scandal during the administration of ex-President Alvaro Uribe and has been granted political asylum in Panama.
The DAS’ former deputy director of counterintelligence, Jorge Alberto Lagos, who has previously given testimony against the DAS in the wiretap scandal, is also being investigated in the case of intercepting unionists’ emails.
Several other DAS officials are also implicated in the investigation.