A serious complaint for alleged illegal espionage was made public by the acting Minister of Justice, Andrés Idárraga, who assured that a forensic report revealed that his cell phone was systematically tapped on more than 8,700 occasions between August and November of last year.
According to the official, the technical analysis showed the unauthorized activation of the microphone and camera of his device, as well as the extraction of about 2.3 gigabytes of private information, within which there would be sensitive data related to anti-corruption complaints that the National Government had been promoting.
The case, according to Idárraga, would not be limited to a digital attack. A counterintelligence report to which he had access would indicate that the Ministry of Defense had ordered the use of reserved expenses to carry out follow-ups against him and against members of his family, with the purpose of identifying the sources that facilitated investigations into alleged irregularities within the defense sector.
“A discredit strategy was being structured due to the information that I was receiving and documenting about different acts of corruption within the military forces.”said the Minister of Justice in charge in recent statements.
Idárraga confirmed that he has already filed a criminal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office against undetermined persons and that he also took the case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), considering that it is an extremely serious event that compromises fundamental guarantees.
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In addition, it formally requested the Comptroller General of the Republic to investigate the management of the reserved expenses of the Defense sector, in order to establish whether these resources would have been used for purposes other than those authorized by law.
The official recalled that before taking office as acting Minister of Justice, he served as Secretary of Transparency of the Presidency, a position from which he led investigations into possible links between members of the Army and illegal armed groups. According to what he indicated, from that moment the alleged illegal monitoring would have begun.
A forensic report carried out by an international company (hired by the official himself) concluded that the infiltration would have been carried out using the Pegasus software, activated specifically on November 1 at 2:32 in the afternoon, with at least 124 illegal audio and video activations.
The case continues to be verified by the competent authorities and could open one of the most delicate chapters on improper use of state intelligence tools in Colombia in recent years.
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