Vice Minister of the Interior Aurelio Iragorri said that at the end of May a draft decree that could serve to dismantle Colombia’s drug enforcement agency (DNE) will be ready for review.
Iragorri said that by May 30, the government could have a draft decree ready that will the highlight the institutions under scrutiny and that could be passed by the end of June, Colombian media reported Friday.
He added that the new agency created out of the DNE’s dismantling will have the responsibility of complete oversight of the anti-drug policies of the Colombian state, concentrating in one body a great deal of the work that is currently done by various agencies, who will have input as the restructuring process moves along.
“The portfolio of the Interior and Justice Ministry, with the support of the [DNE], will lead the formulation of this body, in a process that also will involve the various institutions that in one or another manner have the resolution of this problem as their objective,” said the Viceminister.
In mid-April, President Juan Manuel Santos took the decision to move forward with the process of restructuring the DNE, an agency which has been hit hard by corruption scandals.
Numerous agency employees, including 14 former and current congressmen, are under investigation for corruption charges related to the mishandling of assets seized by the DNE.