Former President Alvaro Uribe’s then chief of staff was sent to jail Saturday after victims of illegal wiretapping by state intelligence agency DAS successfully appealed the Supreme Court’s decision to allow him to await trial at liberty.
The court’s initial decision was revised because, according to the judge, the defense of the victims had proven former presidential chief of staff Bernardo Moreno in earlier stages of the investigation had tried to obstruct justice.
Moreno is charged with conspiracy, the illegal interception of communication, abuse of power and fraud because of his alleged responsibility in the illegal wiretapping by the DAS of Supreme Court judges, political government opponents, journalists and human rights workers.
The Inspector General’s Office, in disagreement with Moreno’s preliminary incarceration, had previously barred the former official from holding public office for 18 years for allegedly ordering the wiretapping.
Uribe, Moreno’s former employer, called the incarceration of his former right hand a “corruption show” while speaking in the city of Neiva.
Uribe himself is also under investigation for his alleged criminal responsibility in the illegal wiretapping of his opponents, but by a congressional commission.