Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos created a “Commission of Morals” to fight corruption Friday, citing “fake” victims of human rights abuses and thieving education officials as immediate targets.
Recent evidence of corruption in the education and welfare system demonstrated the need for a new body to catch those who tried to defraud the state, according to Santos.
The National Moralization Commission will work alongside a National Citizens’ Commission for the Fight Against Corruption and a Secretariat for Transparency to form a united “fist” against fraud in the public sector.
During a launch event at the presidential palace, Santos highlighted the recent discovery that Colombian education officials had falsely inflated the number of students in their establishments in order to get extra government subsidies. It’s thought more than $100 million has been spent by the government on “phantom students.”
He also claimed there had been 3,000 accusations of fraud in the presidential Socal Action fund, which compensates victims of human rights abuses. He said six people had recently been discovered to be illegitimately receiving money.
Santos said, “You can’t play around with victims money! Those funds are sacred.”
