Anti-money laundering group suspends Colombia after President Petro declassifies confidential report
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/09/2024 (386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — The Egmont Group, an international organization created to combat money laundering, said Monday that it has suspended Colombia’s access to its global information sharing platform, after President Gustavo Petro shared confidential information that Colombian officials had obtained from the group.
The Egmont Group said in a statement that Colombia’s government will no longer have access to a secure web used by the group to share data on financial crimes and that can be accessed by 177 member countries. The group said the measure will remain in effect while it further investigates the situation.
Earlier this month, Petro read out information from a document obtained through the Egmont Group suggesting that in 2021, Colombia’s government, which was then headed by conservative President Iván Duque, paid an Israeli company $11 million in cash to acquire Pegasus spyware.
Petro made the revelation during a nationally televised speech, where many expected him to discuss a truckers’ strike instead.
The president said that the spyware was used by Duque’s conservative administration to spy on activists and members of left-wing parties that opposed his government, including Petro himself. Duque administration officials have denied the charges.
Pegasus is able to gather information from cellphones undetected and control a cellphone’s camera and microphones. The software was developed by an Israeli company and has been used to target more than 50,000 politicians, journalists and human rights activists by at least a dozen governments, according to a report published by Amnesty International and 18 media organizations in 2021.
Security analysts have said Colombia’s suspension from the Egmont Group’s information sharing platform weakens the nation’s capabilities to detect illegal transactions made by drug trafficking groups, and other criminal organizations.
Petro on Monday defended his decision to declassify confidential information, arguing he did so to defend the nation’s interests.
“This is the price of truth,” Petro wrote in a message on X, adding that Colombians now know how his predecessor “paid” for Pegasus.
____
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america