Colombia illegally paid $13 million for Pegasus software: but no one knows where it went

This week’s news feature is a preview of our upcoming podcast season with Adriaan Alsema from Colombia Reports.

Colombian police intelligence likely purchased Israeli software Pegasus during the country’s national strike in 2021, during which police killed over 60 protesters.

The sale was never declared in Colombia, and although the NSO Group, who created Pegasus, broke no laws in Israel, they defied Colombian law by accepting a $13 million payment from an unknown party in the country’s police ranks.

Since the news broke, a software salesman and Israeli citizen from a company associated with the NSO Group was found dead in Medellin in a presumed homicide.

Making matters worse, no one in Colombia even knows who has the weapons-grade spyware, who used it, or where it ended up.

As multiple investigations proceed, they do so in the context of worsening relations between Israel, and leftist President Gustavo Petro in Colombia, who has sharply criticized Israeli actions in their ongoing war in Gaza.

Israel and Colombia dissolved all diplomatic contact last year after Petro accused Israel of committing genocide.

We get into all those details and more in this conversation, which result from independent investigations by both PWS and Colombia Reports.

We hope you enjoy it ‘cause it’s a wild ride!

This episode is free access, but the upcoming season will be released immediately only for paid subscribers. Please consider taking out a subscription to support our work. We have plans that start at just $5/month

*An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the sum as $30 million. We regret the error*

In case you missed our breaking news coverage of Pegasus in Latin America you can catch up here.

We will be back to the normal format next week and hope to launch the new complete podcast series for paid subscribers in mid-October.

Hasta Pronto, piratas!

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