The Office of the Inspector General of Colombia (Spanish: Procuraduría General de Colombia) is a Colombian independent public institution overseeing the public conduct of those in authority or in charge of exercising a public office, and of overseeing 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.
| Procuraduría General de la Nación | |
 Headquarters in Bogotá. | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | April 29, 1830 |
| Headquarters | Carrera 5ª № 15-60 Bogotá, D.C., Colombia |
| Annual budget | COP$541.314.589.000 (2016)[1] |
| Agency executives |
|
| Child agency | |
| Website | www |
Functions
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
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
| 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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