He President Gustavo Petro revealed this Wednesday that the agency of intelligence police bought the software Pegasusused by several governments for political espionage, on an Israeli company in June 2021, when the country was experiencing weeks of social protests.
“Colombia’s police intelligence agency bought $11 million (about 9.93 million euros) of cell phone spy software from an Israeli company in the midst of the social unrest and before the 2022 election campaigns.Petro announced in a presidential address, in which he asked to investigate the purchase.
According to information given to the president by the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF)the Police Intelligence Directorate (Dipol) paid cash to an Israeli company and the money “He was transported by air from Bogotá to Tel Aviv on June 27, 2021“, where it was declared to customs and deposited into the company’s account.
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Gustavo Petro
Israeli software Pegasus, created by the Israeli company NSO Group Technologies Ltd.is capable of facilitating wiretapping, spying on emails and text communications through applications such as WhatsApp, and scanning documents contained in the memory of mobile phones.
“How did $11 million in cash leave the country on a plane from government-linked offices to Israel to buy spy software to spy on private political conversations for perhaps months?“the president asked, recalling that his own presidential campaign was subject to spying and leaks to the press.
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“Where did the money come from? Why was it not made official?“, continued the president who questioned how many people have been intercepted without a court order and stressed that it could be “a money laundering carried out from our own State“.
Espionage
Therefore, he ordered the Director of the Police, General William René Salamancafind the software and deliver it along with the information collected to the Prosecutor’s Office to carry out the investigation.
Colombia has experienced several cases of political espionage and the president himself has claimed to be a victim of it. The most notorious case was the illegal wiretapping of members of the Judiciary during the presidency of Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010).which led to a scandal with convictions of some of those responsible.
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This year, a judge of the Constitutional Court denounced possible espionage, which is being investigated. In this case, The president’s initiative to request information that has led to revealing this alleged purchase of spy software by police intelligence came out.
EFE
