We have achieved a 96 percent of effectiveness in convictions related to corruption: Attorney General

The Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, participated in the XV Meeting of the Constitutional Jurisdiction: Diversity and Recognition (‘XV Encuentro de la Jurisdicción Constitucional: Diversidad y Reconocimiento’) organized by the Constitutional Court. In his speech, he pointed out that, during the first year of his administration, 168 convictions related to corruption processes have been obtained, which represents an effectiveness of 96%.

“Without a prompt and effective investigation, administration of justice cannot happen,” stated the Attorney Barbosa. He emphasized that the phenomenon of corruption, in addition to being understood as public, it must also be analyzed in the private sphere. “There are communication ‘water glasses’ between the two corruptions,” he stated.

“We are pursuing private individuals involved in corruption such as contractors, relatives, friends and frontmen of people who take possession of public resources,” added the Attorney General.

The determination to tackle actions related to the improper use of public resources, irregularities in contracting and other behaviors associated with corruption, as defined in the 2020-2024 Strategic Direction, has allowed prosecutors to charge 27 mayors and 3 governors.

In the same way, 14 private individuals, 25 contractors and 52 public servants who committed corruption were formally linked to investigations.

Corruption

The Attorney General pointed out that the absence of social trust affects the credibility in institutions. As a measure to recover this closeness to citizens, he proposed permanent accountability reports so that, citizens will know what public officials do, and also to make institutional presence in the territories.

“The Office of the Attorney General is fulfilling a missionary function in the territories to understand how the different types of crimes are committed in the regions”, said the Attorney General when he drew the attention to the fact that similar crimes happen in different regions.

“Corruption has to be tackled face to face, by understanding the dynamics of the territories,” emphasized the Attorney General while placing this phenomenon at the level of illegal activities such as drug trafficking, theft and murder.

The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.