Colombian authorities ordered the arrest of five lawmakers and 15 former politicians and businessmen on Monday for colluding with paramilitary death squads in a spreading scandal entangling allies of President Alvaro Uribe.
In another blow, Uribe's police chief and intelligence commander were replaced after authorities charged that police agents illegally recorded telephone calls by opposition figures and journalists that may reveal jailed paramilitary bosses ordered crimes to be committed from their prison cells.
Uribe faces pressure from critics at home and Democrats in the US Congress skeptical about approving a trade deal and military aid to fight left-wing rebels because of ties between pro-government lawmakers and the former militias.
Eight lawmakers were jailed this year on charges they co-operated with paramilitaries who massacred and kidnapped people in the name of combating guerrillas until they disarmed in a peace deal with Uribe. Most former commanders are now imprisoned.
Authorities said the names of five current congressmen and the others appeared on a document signed with paramilitary leaders in 2001 at the Santa Fe de Ralito militia stronghold after the commanders took control of swathes of countryside.
"The court's penal chamber has issued warrants for the five lawmakers accused of signing the Ralito pact. The charge is conspiring to commit an aggravated crime," Supreme Court magistrate Alfredo Gomez told reporters.
The attorney general's office said it also issued warrants for 15 others, including former mayors, senators and local cattle ranchers. Most of the accused had been detained by late Monday. One was allowed to remain free because of his old age.
Authorities said they were investigating reported illegal telephone wiretapping that could show jailed paramilitary bosses had continued to commit crimes. If proven, Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said they face extradition to the United States, where they are classified as terrorists.
Uribe's government has received millions of dollars in US aid to help fight rebels in a four-decade-old conflict fuelled by the cocaine trade. The rebels have been pushed back in the jungles and Uribe has negotiated the disarming of 30,000 paramilitaries.
Rights groups have long denounced collusion among the paramilitaries, political leaders and army officers. But the extent of the ties becomes clearer as investigators probe militia commanders about crimes as part of the peace deal.
Uribe says the arrests are proof Colombia's institutions are working and demanded authorities support the investigation. But rights groups say the militia bosses have kept their criminal networks alive and remain influential.
Paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso promised this week to give evidence about politicians, army commanders, business leaders and foreign companies who he says collaborated with the warlords before their demobilisation.
US banana giant Chiquita Brands International recently pleaded guilty to charges that it's local unit paid protection money to paramilitaries and agreed to a settlement of $25 million. Under their accord, paramilitary commanders must give full confessions of crimes from kidnapping to drug-trafficking and compensate their victims in order to benefit from sentences of up to eight years and avoid extradition to the United States.
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