Colombia’s Prosecutor General on Wednesday called for the closing of the Accusations Commission, Congress’ body for investigating crimes allegedly committed by members of executive and judicial branches.
Prosecutor General Eduardo Montealegre told the El Tiempo newspaper the body was a “complete failure” and lacked credibility.
“After several years of scandals, the commission still doesn’t have a formal process,” he said.
His comments came as the committee starts to investigate Judge Henry Villarraga, who allegedly received a bribe to vote for the case involving an army colonel suspected of executing civilians to be transferred to a military court.
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“The Commission has followed some roads to indictment which were unusual and dangerous to the country,” Montealegre said.
“We will be submitting a judicial reform draft in March next year, which includes the investigation of high officials,” the top prosecutor added.
“I believe in the Constitution of 1991 was based on a mistake: giving judicial responsibilities to an entity with political functions.
“This has led to impunity because it hasn’t achieved either.”
The most prominent open case is that of former President Alvaro Uribe, who is suspected of ordering the illegal wiretapping of Supreme Court magistrates and opponents of his government.
The investigation has been ongoing since October 2010.
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The call to shut the congressional body is not new; In July 2011, former housing minister German Vargas criticized the commission for being too slow to investigate over 1000 cases against high-ranking government officials and called for the transfer of its functions.
Sources