Partido de la U candidate for the Colombian presidency Juan Manuel Santos says that prosecution should be handled by the government, reports El Espectador.
He said that his government would be “relentless” in implementing policies aimed at fighting crime and suggested that investigations should be carried out by the government directly.
He said this would strengthen “the coordinated efforts of all state agencies in the fight against crime and would improve accountability.”
He said that the investigation of crimes attributed to ministers, deputy ministers, superintendents, directors of public offices and senior officials of the executive branch would be carried out by the Supreme Court, as would certain crimes of great social and political relevance attributed on other public servants.
Santos’ statement comes at a time when the Supreme Court is attempting to elect a new prosecutor general. It has met ten times to decide who fills the post, but failed every time, causing both President Uribe and the UN special rapporteur on judicial independence to claim that the delays are damaging for Colombia’s justice system.
