Colombia Implicates Financial Intelligence Unit In Pegasus Scandal

The President of Colombia Gustavo Petro has announced an investigation into the purchase of NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware allegedly conducted by the Colombian Police Intelligence Directorate (DIPOL) under Colombia's former government.

In a speech, Petro read aloud the response to a FIU information request made by Colombian FIU Director Luis Chica to the FIU of Switzerland dated August 2024, allegedly confirming the sale of Pegasus to DIPOL in 2021.

According to Petro's speech, the response reads that in July and August 2021, an Israeli bank reported suspicious activity regarding a $5.5 million cash deposit into the company’s account. This payment was related to an $11 million agreement between NSO Group Technologies Limited and the Colombian Police Intelligence Directorate (DIPOL) for the purchase of Pegasus.

According to Petro, the suspicious activity report reads that DIPOL made the payment in cash, transported by plane from Bogotá, Colombia, to Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 27, 2021. The funds were declared to Israeli customs and deposited in the company’s account on June 30, 2021. The remaining $5.5 million was expected to be transferred in September or October 2021. Petro alleges that the payment was completed on September 22, 2021.

According to Petro, no charges or convictions were made regarding this case, and it has not been investigated. The Swiss FIU apologized for the delay in responding, according to Petro.

In a press release, the Government of Colombia states that the Prosecutor's Office will judicially investigate the findings of the suspicious transaction report, whether a purchase was made, the origin of the money, the means by which the cash transfer took place from Colombia to Israel, and whether this information was delivered to the Colombian FIU.

"How did $11 million in cash leave the country on a plane [...] to Israel, to buy software that spied on private political communications, potentially months before the election?", Petro asked.

"Where did the money come from? Why wasn't this officialized in the national budget, credit commissions, or usual transaction offices? Was this a case of money laundering within our own state to intercept the communications of political opposition?"

Information shared between FIUs is deemed confidential and fit for intelligence purposes only. As Switzerland's response to Colombia's information request reads according to Petro, "the contents of this report are highly sensitive and cannot be shared outside the [Colombian FIU] UIAF without prior written consent from the Israeli Authority on Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing."

"Since I am the President of the Republic, and given that I currently do not adhere to diplomatic relations with Israel due to the Gaza issue," Petro stated, "I am exempt from this restriction and can share this letter with you."

The Egmont Group, an international network of FIUs which facilitates financial intelligence sharing between its 177 member states, has since suspended Colombia from its web platform.

In a statement on Colombia's suspension, Egmont Chair Elżbieta Franków-Jaśkiewicz notes that the Egmont Group "is built on a solid foundation of mutual trust ensuring that member Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) comply with high standards of accountability towards the protection and confidentiality of the financial intelligence being exchanged."

"Due to recent actions involving FIU Colombia and the unauthorised disclosure of information provided by one of our members, the Egmont Group Heads of FIU have confirmed the suspension of FIU Colombia’s access to the Egmont Secure Web," the statement reads.

"The Egmont Group Charter requires member FIUs to remain autonomous and operationally independent. They must remain free from any undue political, government, or industry influence or interference which might compromise its operational independence and put fellow member FIUs at risk of exposure to sensitive data breaches or breaches of confidentiality," the statement continues.

Augusto Cubides, Director of VIDA, a publication of the presidency of Colombia, responds to the opposition's worries that Colombia's suspension from the Egmont Group may hinder the country's anti-money laundering efforts in an editorial.

"They forget that we have lived the past 50 years with and without sanctions from the global financial intelligence platform," Cubides writes, noting that high profile financial crime cases, such as those of politicians implicated in the Panama Papers, continue to go unsolved.

NSO Group's Pegasus leverages zero-click exploits giving perpetrators full access to the targeted device, used to spy on activists, journalists and politicians. NSO Group has been implicated in numerous human rights abuses and has been placed on a US trade blacklist in 2021.

Two weeks ago, Apple dropped its case against NSO after reports on NSO document seizures through the Israeli Government became public, stating that "it might never be able to get the most critical files about NSO’s Pegasus surveillance tool", according to the Washington Post.

"Officials asked an Israeli court to keep the action secret even from those involved in an earlier, still-pending hacking suit against NSO filed by Meta’s WhatsApp. Israeli ministry of justice communications that were hacked showed that officials were concerned about sensitive information reaching Americans," the Washington Post writes.

Details on allegations of Colombia's purchase of NSO Group's Pegasus first became public in March 2024. "A senior [Ministry of Defense] official backed the deal, aiding in persuading a bank to deposit the cash despite money laundering concerns," writes Gur Meggido on X (formerly Twitter).

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