The phones of a Supreme Court magistrate in charge of the ‘parapolitics’ investigations were illegally wiretapped from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Prosecutor General himself denounced.
According to PG Guillermo Mendoza Diago, the illegal wiretaps were conducted in August and ordered by two prosecutors as part of an investigation into extortion and kidnapping.
Magistrate Ivan Velasquez is leading the investigation into alleged paramilitary ties of dozens of lawmakers, most of who are from the governing coalition. Velasquez previously was illegally wiretapped by the DAS, the national intelligence agency that faces to be shut down, because of numerous scandals.
The Prosecutor General’s Office is in charge of the investigation of the DAS and its alleged illegal activities.
President Alvaro Uribe had earlier denied reports that authorities continued illegally wiretapping government critics and denounced an international criminal conspiracy to discredit his administration.