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Colombia president fires army chief amid scandal

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IANS Bogota

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced Tuesday that army chief Gen. Leonardo Barrero has been dismissed amid corruption allegations in military procurement contracts.

Santos told reporters that Gen. Barrero was deposed for verbally maligning prosecutors involved in investigations of officers accused of ordering extrajudicial executions, Xinhua reported.

The insults were recorded during a phone conversation and was published over the weekend.

Barrero is heard in one recording calling prosecutors "a bunch of crap" and saying a counterattack is in the pipeline to debase them.

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First Published: Feb 19 2014 | 6:36 AM IST

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