“How did 11 million dollars in cash leave the country on a plane from state offices to Israel to buy software that spies on communications?”
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has ordered an investigation into the police force’s $11 million purchase of Pegasus spyware developed by an Israeli firm.
In a televised address on Wednesday, Petro said the software may have been used to spy on opposition politicians, including himself, during the previous administration.
He questioned how the funds, in cash, could have left the country without any record of it included in the published budget.
“How did 11 million dollars in cash leave the country on a plane from state offices to Israel to buy software that spies on communications? Who else was intercepted? Under what court order were these interceptions made? Where did the money come from?” Petro asked.
"¿Cómo salen del país 11 millones de dólares en efectivo en un avión desde oficinas estatales hacia Israel para comprar un software que espía comunicaciones? ¿A quiénes más interceptaron? ¿Con qué orden judicial se realizaron esas interceptaciones? ¿De dónde salió el dinero?":… pic.twitter.com/7fVSXCHOmm
— Presidencia Colombia 🇨🇴 (@infopresidencia) September 5, 2024
He cited documentation that provided details of the purchase and requested the director of the Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF), as well as the head of the police, to turn over relevant documents and “to find the software” and deliver it to the attorney general’s office for investigation.
“It is a laundering of assets made from our own state to disrupt the communications of whom?” he reportedly asked.
Petro urged the attorney general’s office to include what police may have used the spyware for as part of its investigation.
Politicians Targeted
He explained that “in July – August 2021, before the campaigns and in the midst of the social unrest in Colombia, an Israeli bank filed an unusual report regarding a deposit of 5.5 million dollars, the payment was related to an agreement for 11 million dollars signed between NSO Group and the Colombian Police Intelligence Directorate for the purchase of ‘Pegasus’, a software to spy on cell phones.”
Pegasus spyware, built by Israeli firm NSO, has been found to have been used to hack into the phones of various people globally, including politicians and journalists.
"En julio – agosto del 2021, antes de las campañas y en medio del estallido social en Colombia, un banco israelí presentó un reporte inusual en relación con un depósito de 5 millones 500 mil dólares, el pago estaba relacionado por un acuerdo por 11 millones de dólares firmado… pic.twitter.com/M97vg7Gr8H
— Presidencia Colombia 🇨🇴 (@infopresidencia) September 5, 2024
Pegasus can be installed on a target’s phone with or without the user clicking a false link. Once installed, Pegasus grants the hacker the ability to read messages, look through photos, track the person’s location, and even switch on the camera and microphone without the knowledge of the phone’s owner.
According to a list of NSO clients that leaked in 2021, more than 50,000 politicians, journalists, activists, and business figures were surveilled using the malware.”
Critical of Israel
The Colombian government has repeatedly slammed Israel for its ongoing genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip launched last October, with Petro calling it “Nazi-like.”
In April, Colombia applied to the International Court of Justice to allow the country to intervene in South Africa’s lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip.
‘Used to Kill Children’ – Colombia Bans Coal Exports to Israel
In May, Petro announced the severing of diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, saying “If Palestine dies, humanity dies, and we are not going to let it die.”
Last month, Petro announced the suspension of all coal exports to Israel and urged all ships’ crews to halt the transport of coal to the country.
“Colombian coal is used to manufacture bombs that kill Palestinian children,” he posted on X.
Over 40,000 killed
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,861 Palestinians have been killed, and 94,398 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel Targets Displaced Tents, Residential Neighborhoods – Gaza Genocide Continues
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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