The Inspector General and the Prosecutor General both said that soliciting a United Nations
(U.N.) rapporteur to examine judicial independence and the controversial wiretap scandal that implicates the
Presidency is unnecessary.
Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez said that the prudence of a rapporteur could create friction between government institutions.
“It would be justified if the relevant bodies were not investigating the wiretap scandal but they are,” he said, adding that this kind of proposal “opens the doors to institutional destabilization”.
The vice Prosecutor General, Guillermo Mendoza, said that Colombia has “sufficient capacity in its justice system to administer justice”.
President of the Supreme Court Augusto Ibáñez, who contacted the U.N. last Friday seeking “impartial observations by an impartial body”, said in response to these statements that the Court is not attempting to destabilize institutions.
“These [rapporteurs] are global mechanisms that governments use when the presence of an international organization is considered necessary in order to evaluate a situation”, he said.
The scandal, in which DAS officials illegally wiretapped journalists, magistrates and political opponents of the Uribe government, has been linked to the Presidency.
