Colombia security deputy gets 8 years – boss safe in Panama

The ex-sub-director of Colombia’s  security service is heading to jail for 8 years while his boss who gave the orders for wiretapping,according to documents, remains safely in Panama.

Gustavo Sierra the former  analysis sub-director of the  Security Administrative Department (DAS)  was sentenced Saturday to one hundred months in prison,after a plea bargaining deal for illegal wiretapping  of judges, opponents and journalists.

Sierra agreed to charges of  conspiracy to commit aggravated unlawful interception of communications, aggravated trespass and abuse of public office.

It was  revealed that he had  been ordered by the former director of the DAS Maria del Pilar Hurtado, who was granted asylum in Panama in November last year by President Ricardo Martinelli.

Martinelli, according to WikiLeaks revelations,   had sought the aid of the DEA  to check on local politicians soon after he was elected.

The former head of intelligence of the DAS, Fernando Tabares and deputy director of counter intelligence Jorge Alberto Lagos, were sentenced to two to eight years in prison.

In another development  related to the eavesdropping scandal lapping at the door of former president Alvaro Uribe, a judge of the Superior Court of Bogota. ordered the imprisonment of Bernardo Moreno, secretary general of the Presidency in the Uribe government. (2002-2010).