Colombia investigates alleged use of Pegasus spyware by Iván Duque's government

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Thursday that the previous government of Iván Duque bought Pegasus, an Israeli spy software that is on a U.S. blacklist, for $11 million in mid-2021.

According to the President's televised address, the information was transmitted to him on August 27, 2024 by Luis Eduardo Llinas Chia, Director of the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF).

However, Petro stated that he was advised not to make the information public without the written consent of the Israeli Financial Intelligence Unit (IMPA).

“As I am the president and am currently not maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel due to the situation in Gaza, I am withdrawing this ban and will pass on the contents of this letter,” he said.

According to Petro, an Israeli bank filed a report for unusual activity between July and August 2021 after receiving a $5.5 million cash deposit into the account of NSO Group Technologies Limited, the owners of Pegasus.

This payment was related to an $11 million agreement between NSO Group Technologies Limited and the Colombian Police Intelligence Unit (DIPOL) to purchase the Pegasus software. The remaining $5.5 million was paid in September 2021.

“I decided to request information when various judges began to speak of interference, and especially after the media attempted to falsify poll results against me 15 days before the end of my presidential campaign with information they may have obtained through illegal wiretapping,” President Petro said.

The president questioned how such a sum of money could leave the US authorities to purchase software “that spies on cell phones and private communications”.

“Who else was being wiretapped? What judicial warrant did they have, as required by the Constitution, so that such wiretapping was not illegal? Where did the money come from? Why was it not officially recorded in the state budget?” he asked.

Shortly after Petro's broadcast, the public prosecutor's office released a statement announcing the launch of an investigation “to find out the truth and ultimately identify those responsible for the possibly illegal acquisition and use of the 'Pegasus' spy software by DIPOL.”

In addition, it should be clarified whether the police still have access to Pegasus and under what legal restrictions it is used.

Ernesto Macías Tovar, former President of Congress, said that President Petro's announcement was a diversionary tactic because “a government cannot do cash transactions, and certainly not with another government.” Former President Iván Duque, who has not yet made a statement himself, re-shared this statement on X.

The United Nations Human Rights Office in Colombia stated: “The deployment of Pegasus constitutes a serious violation of the rights to privacy, freedom of expression and association, and other human rights.”

NSO Group Technologies Limited and Pegasus

According to its website, NSO Group develops technologies to help government agencies detect and prevent terrorism and crime. According to the company, its products are used exclusively by government intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies to combat crime and terrorism. One of these products is Pegasus.

The first version of the software was discovered by researchers in 2016 when they discovered infected mobile phones. The Guardian.

According to Amnesty International, NSO came under fire in 2021 after a massive data leak revealed that Pegasus was being used to target activists, journalists and political leaders around the world. The Pegasus Project, a collaboration of more than 80 journalists from 17 media organizations in 10 countries, conducted forensic tests on mobile phones to identify traces of the spyware.

“These revelations refute all of NSO's claims that such attacks are rare and are the result of misuse of its technology… They paint a picture of legitimacy but benefit from widespread human rights abuses,” Amnesty International said at the time.

“These revelations refute all of NSO's claims that such attacks are rare and are the result of misuse of its technology… They paint a picture of legitimacy but benefit from widespread human rights abuses,” Amnesty International said at the time.

Pegasus can be installed on a phone through vulnerabilities in apps or by tricking a victim into clicking on a malicious link. Once installed, the software can collect all of a device's data and send it back to the attacker, including text messages, images and data obtained by activating the phone's camera or microphone, according to The Guardian.
As the newspaper reported, in its response to the Pegasus Project, NSO denied all allegations, calling them misleading interpretations of the leaked data based on accessible basic information.