Office of the Inspector General of Colombia

Not to be confused with Office of the Attorney General of Colombia.
Office of the Inspector / Solicitor General
Procuraduría General de la Nación

Headquarters in Bogotá.
Agency overview
FormedApril 29, 1830 (1830-04-29)
HeadquartersCarrera 5ª № 15-60
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Annual budgetCOP$541.314.589.000 (2016)[1]
Agency executives
  • Margarita Cabello, Inspector General
  • Antonio Emiro Thomas Arias, Vicesolicitor General
Child agency
Websitewww.procuraduria.gov.co

The Office of the Inspector General of Colombia (Spanish: Procuraduría General de Colombia) is a Colombian independent public institution overseeing both the public conduct of those in authority or in charge of exercising a public office and the correct functioning of other government institutions and agencies. The Office of the Inspector General of Colombia is not a judicial institution; it is one of the Colombian Control Institutions, alongside the Office of the Controller General. The Inspector General is also charged with safeguarding the rights of the people, guaranteeing human rights protection and intervening in the name of the people in the defence of the public's interest.

Functions

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According to the Colombian Constitution of 1991, one of the main purposes of the Inspector General is to prevent, intervene and start disciplinary actions. It prevents before having to take action; it is charged with overseeing public officials' performance and warns of any violation to the current norms.[2] It intervenes in the different jurisdictions in defence of the legal order, public funds and fundamental rights and freedoms. The Inspector General is in charge of initiating, developing and ruling investigations against public officials in accordance with the Unique Disciplinary Code.[3]

Criticism

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In July 2022, then president-elect Gustavo Petro claimed that he would promote the removal of the Office of the Inspector General, with the purpose of "listening to the judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and in the process respecting the American Convention."[4][5] He added that the apparatus's funding would be spent in "strengthening" judiciary power, and establishing "the great Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office."[6]

Colombian politicians like Juan Manuel Galán Pachón and Piedad Córdoba have supported this change, calling the institution a "monarchical, old, expensive institution" and a "tool of persecution of the extreme right —a biased body that protects political clans," respectively.[6][7]

In an interview with El Tiempo, lawyers Juan Carlos Ospina and Silvia Serrano stated that "the proposal for the elimination or complete transformation of the Attorney General's Office goes beyond what was ordered by the Inter-American Court" and that "the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights did not order the elimination of the control body or the transferring of its functions to the judiciary but to adapt the domestic system so that the Attorney General's Office does not have the power to dismiss or disqualify popularly elected officials."[8]

List of officeholders

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No. Portrait Name Took office Left office President(s)
1 Mario Aramburu[9] 1967 1970 Carlos Lleras Restrepo
2 Jesús Bernal[10] 1971 1974 Misael Pastrana Borrero
3 Jaime Serrano[11] 1974 1978 Alfonso López Michelsen
4 Guillermo González[12] 1978 1982 Julio César Turbay Ayala
5 Carlos Jiménez Gómez[13] 1982 1986 Belisario Betancur
6 Carlos Mauro Hoyos September 17, 1986 January 25, 1988 Virgilio Barco
- Horacio Serpa 1988 1989
7 Alfonso Gómez Méndez 1989 1900 César Gaviria
8 Carlos Gustavo Arrieta 1990 1994
9 Orlando Vásquez September 1, 1994 November 28, 1996 Ernesto Samper
10 Jaime Bernal December 12, 1996 January 1, 2001 Andrés Pastrana
11 Edgardo Maya January 12, 2001 January 13, 2009 Álvaro Uribe
12 Alejandro Ordóñez January 16, 2009 September 8, 2016 Juan Manuel Santos
13 Fernando Carrillo January 17, 2016 August 27, 2020 Iván Duque
14 Margarita Cabello August 27, 2020 Incumbent Gustavo Petro

References

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  1. ^ Colombia, Congress of (13 December 2010). "Ley 1420 de 2010" (PDF). Diario Oficial (in Spanish) (47, 922). Bogotá: 24. ISSN 0122-2112. OCLC 500057889. Retrieved 6 May 2013.[permanent dead link‍]
  2. ^ "Información institucional" (in Spanish). Office of the Inspector General of Colombia. Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  3. ^ Law 734 of 2002
  4. ^ Cedeño, María Fernanda (2022-07-06). "Fin de la Procuraduría en Colombia: por qué Petro ha decidido eliminarla y cuándo será". Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  5. ^ Ramírez, Sandra Patricia Vargas (2022-07-05). "Gustavo Petro impulsará la eliminación de la Procuraduría General de la Nación". W Radio (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  6. ^ a b Semana (2022-07-09). "Si la Procuraduría es eliminada en el gobierno de Gustavo Petro, ¿quiénes serían los afectados?". Semana.com Últimas Noticias de Colombia y el Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  7. ^ Semana (2022-07-05). ""La Procuraduría terminó siendo un escampadero de políticos": Piedad Córdoba". Semana.com Últimas Noticias de Colombia y el Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  8. ^ Tiempo, Casa Editorial El (2022-07-05). "¿Qué tan viable es eliminar la Procuraduría como propuso Gustavo Petro?". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  9. ^ Madrigal, Lorenzo (November 28, 2010). "El procurador Aramburo Restrepo". elespectador.com. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  10. ^ "Procuradora o procurador". elnuevosiglo.com.co. September 12, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  11. ^ "Murió el exregistrador Jaime Serrano Rueda". eltiempo.com. June 29, 1991. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  12. ^ "Procuraduría General de la Nación lamenta la muerte del exprocurador Guillermo González Charry y ofrece las más sentidas condolencias a sus familiares". procuraduria.gov.co. March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 27, 2014.
  13. ^ "Carlos Jiménez Gómez: Un Procurador histórico". blogs.elespectador.com. January 23, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2024.


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