Colext: Una pichaita telefonica?

[Ricardo Ramirez]

Colombia lawmakers rack up huge bill on phone sex   BOGOTA, June 22 (Reuters) - Colombian lawmakers have been wasting more than $23,000 a month in public money on phone calls to sex hotlines, the state phone company reported on Tuesday. Officials of the state phone company Telecom made the discovery after they were asked to help trim the communications bill in the Lower House, or Chamber of Representatives. Telecom also discovered that at least 30 of the chamber's 620 lines had been diverted to nearby cafes and restaurants -- allowing lawmakers to work in more convivial surroundings. Overall, the phone bill for the lower house comes to about $233,000 a month. Work is set to begin soon on a new phone system for the chamber designed to filter out personal calls. Colombian lawmakers, reputedly among the most corrupt in the western hemisphere, have also been accused of high-level graft and links to drug syndicates.