Colombia chief of staff, ambassador leave posts amid phone intercept scandal

FILE PHOTO: Colombia's ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti looks on as he visits the Miraflores Palace to meet Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela August 29, 2022. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

BOGOTA (Reuters) - The chief of staff for Colombian President Gustavo Petro and the country's ambassador in Venezuela will leave their posts, Petro said on Friday, as the prosecutor's office probes accusations of illegal phone intercepts of domestic staff.

Laura Sarabia, one of Petro's closest advisors, and ambassador Armando Benedetti, who was key to Petro's election and Sarabia's boss when Benedetti was a senator, have been entangled in a scandal involving missing money and her child's nanny.