Ecuadorean report says Colombia did manipulate computers Reyes

Colombia Reports, Oct 2, 2008,

A report by Ecuador's Public Prosecution says Colombia did manipulate files on slain FARC commander Raúl Reyes' computers before handing copies of those files over to international police organization Interpol.

The report, from mid-July already and leaked to Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, says the Colombian army manipulated the files between the day of the attack on March 1 and the day they offered the computers to be investigated by Interpol and the Ecuadorean Government.

Interpol had already said Colombian authorities "did not always follow internationally accepted methods for handling computer evidence", but no evidence was found that Colombia had tampered any files after March 3.

The international police organization also acknowledged having investigated copies of the original files allegedly found on the FARC commander's computers. Interpol never performed a physical electro-magnetic exam of the hard discs, which according to ict experts and Interpol itself is the only valid way to retrieve a copy of computer content.

According to the analysis of the Ecuadorean prosecution, Colombia did tamper the files before March 3. The report says that all 45 files handed over to Ecuador have the same creation, last modified and last viewed date. The timestamps on 40 of those files are before March 1, indicating that Colombia never opened the files they sent to Ecuador.

If Colombia had not tampered the files, the creation, last modified and last viewed dates would all be different and the last viewed date would have to be in between March 1 and March 3.

Colombia says the computers were found after an attack on a FARC camp on Ecuadorean territory on March 1 and prove guerrilla group FARC financed the campaign of the leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa