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Seemingly no end to graft scandals
Shortly after taking office just over a year ago, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos vowed to make fighting corruption a top priority. He said his government would go after corrupt officials in the private and public sector with the same zeal as it goes after insurgents.
“Those corrupt people have been advised – we will create special task forces to chase after them and put them behind bars with the same determination we use to combat terrorists,” said Santos, referring to Colombia’s two main rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
Since taking office last August, Santos has kept corruption in the spotlight. In recent months, he has announced a string of corruption scandals; from widespread graft in the national tax collection office and prison service, to billions of dollars being siphoned off in state health services – which has led to six arrests and placed dozens of health officials and hospital managers under investigation.
Earlier this year, the president warned he would expel any foreign company found paying extortion money to outlawed rebel groups. He has also spearheaded a new anti-corruption law that places tougher sanctions on corrupt politicians, especially those who use kickbacks to fund election campaigns, as well as laying out stricter background checks on government officials.
But it seems not a month goes by without a new graft scandal unfolding.
In May, Bogota’s mayor, Samuel Moreno, was suspended from his post following alleged irregularities in the overseeing of contracts for major public works across the capital.
In July, the country’s former agriculture minister, Andres Felipe Arias, was jailed pending trial for allegedly giving away money that had been meant as subsidies for small farmers, to landowners, politicians and a beauty queen instead.
In charge of putting high-profile corrupt officials behind bars is Colombia’s attorney general, Viviane Morales. With 1,150 investigations, many involving embezzlement and the abuse of power among government officials and former ministers, Morales faces a near impossible task. To clear that backlog, she would need to solve a case almost every day for the next three years.
Prosecuting corrupt officials also requires more funding and resources, which are lacking.
Recently, the president of Colombia’s Supreme Court, Camilo Tarquino, said the South American nation needs nearly 4,000 additional judges to allow its notoriously slow justice system to work more efficiently.
Unlike his hard-line predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, who made defeating the leftist rebels his overriding priority, President Santos has tended to focus more on land reform and reducing poverty along with combating corruption.
While most Colombians welcome the government's determination to tackle corruption, many believe this shift in focus has come at the expense of security.
In recent months, the FARC has stepped up its attacks on towns, police and army posts and oil installations, prompting the resignation of Colombia’s defence minister last week.
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