BOGOTÁ-Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has been drawn into a scandal involving the unlawful wiretapping of his former chief of staff’s nanny, with claims of illegal financing leveled at his campaign. Petro’s ex-aide Laura Sarabia and his ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, are under scrutiny after Sarabia’s nanny allegedly fell victim to illegal surveillance following the disappearance of thousands of dollars from her employer’s house. To gain access to her calls, a false police report was allegedly used to link the nanny to organized crime -- none less than the notorious Gulf Clan drug cartel, Attorney General Francisco Barbosa told a press conference last week. The nanny, Marelbys Meza, has also claimed she was subjected to illegal interrogation and a lie detector test in January at a building annexed to the presidential palace in Bogota. Sarabia and Benedetti stepped down last week and leveled accusations of wrongdoing against one another after prosecutors said the pair would be called to testify in a probe into Meza’s allegations.
Then on Sunday, the newspaper La Revista Semana published an expletive-riddled recording of Benedetti threatening Sarabia with his knowledge of alleged illegal campaign funding to the tune of $3.5 million. Benedetti, a key aide to Petro’s successful 2022 election campaign, was reported saying they would all go to jail if he is pushed into spilling the beans.
Colombia’s national electoral council (CNE) said Monday it was opening an investigation into Benedetti’s claims and summoned Benedetti and Sarabia to appear before it on July 13 for “alleged irregularities in the financing” of Petro’s campaign.