BOGOTA, (Reuters) – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has shuttered the nation’s intelligence agency after a scandal that jailed dozens of government officials from the previous administration believed to be involved in spying on political opponents, journalists and judges.
The agency, known as the DAS, was dissolved by executive order and the bulk of its functions will be reassigned to the police, the interior ministry and the foreign ministry, Santos said in a statement late on Monday.
The DAS was found to have used wire taps and other illegal means to spy on opponents during former President Alvaro Uribe’s eight years in office. Former DAS director Jorge Noguera in September was sentenced to 25 years in prison for scheming with right-wing paramilitaries that targeted union activists for murder.
Uribe’s chief of staff Bernardo Moreno was arrested in July and is awaiting trial for involvement in the illegal wire tapping. Uribe, a close ally of the United States during his administration from 2002 to 2010, has denied any knowledge of the spying.
“Today is the 58th birthday of the DAS, and today at 58 we will dissolve it,” Santos said after signing the decree to
