The authorities in Colombia have ordered the arrest of two former cabinetministers on charges of conspiring to award radio broadcast licences to friends of the President, Ernesto Samper.

The minister for mines and energy, Rodrigo Villamizar, and the communications minister, Saulo Arboleda, resigned last year, after a new magazine published details of what it said was a telephone conversation, in which the two men discussed how to divide up the contracts.

President Samper responded by ordering an investigation into the process of granting radio licences.