Former Colombian officials convicted in spying scandal

BOGOTA: Colombia’s Supreme Court has convicted the country’s former intelligence chief and a presidential chief of staff of spying on judges, journalists and politicians during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe.
The high court handed down its unanimous guilty verdicts on Friday against the former intelligence chief, Maria del Pilar Hurtado, and Uribe’s former chief of staff, Bernardo Moreno.
Hurtado, as head of the now defunct Administrative Department of Security, was found to have ordered illegal wiretaps of current Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro, other leftist politicians and Supreme Court judges.
Hurtado was guilty of “abuse of authority” through “wrongful and arbitrary acts” as well as an “unlawful violation of communications,” according to the decision.
Hurtado fled the country in 2010 and was granted asylum in Panama, but surrendered to Colombian authorities at the end of January after Interpol issued an order for her arrest. Moreno, who is free on bail after spending 19 months in jail during the investigation, was convicted of soliciting illegally obtained information from DAS officials.