ColombiaConflicts of interest in Colombia: officials and congressmen fail to comply with their legal obligations
In partnership with La Silla Vacía (www.lasillavacia.com), DL analyzed the declarations of Colombian congressmen and senior officials, and cross-checked them with the state contracting system and the single business registry through the platform Joining the Dots with PEPs. The report showed that only 25 percent of legislators declared and updated the conflict of interest registry on an annual basis; while in the Executive, out of 190 senior officials, 64 failed to report their conflicts of interest on an annual basis.
Congress: main conclusions
-Of the seven most powerful benches, the one with the most non-compliance is the Historic Pact one. Only 5 percent of its members declare their conflicts of interest, despite the fact that they are obliged to do so by law since 2019. The following ones are the Democratic Center and the Conservative Party. Overall, one out of every three senators has not even submitted the first declaration of their conflicts of interest.
-One in four congressmen, that is, 72 of the 292, have at least one relative who signed a contract with the State after July 20, 2022, the date on which they obtained the seat. Thus, 48 congressmen have one relative, 16 congressmen have two relatives, and 8 have 3 or more relatives collecting fees in different State entities. See the outstanding cases in this special.
-There are 56 congressmen who received campaign contributions from people who are partners or owners of companies that during the last years won public contracts in the area of influence of those congressmen. Of these, there are four particular cases due to the amount of the contracts obtained and the corporate purpose of the companies: Ana Rogelia Monsalve, Carlos Mario Farelo, Germán Blanco and Johnny Fernando Palacio.
Executive: main findings
-Out of 190 senior officials of Gustavo Petro’s government, including ministers, vice ministers, directors and general secretaries of the State, 64 failed to comply with the obligation to report their conflicts of interest annually: 14 never complied with this obligation, while 50 presented it when they took office but did not do it again the following year or presented it this year but did not do it when they took office.
-Vice President Francia Márquez is the highest level official in non-compliance. When she took office she did not declare her conflicts of interest. The first time she did so was in 2023. At the time of publication of this note, she did not make the report for 2024 which, by law, should have been submitted until August 7, the date on which she completed a new year in office.
-Of the 14 high-ranking officials who completely ignored the rule and did not submit their declaration of conflicts of interest, there is one vice-minister and 13 are directors of a ministry. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the one with the highest concentration of non-compliance.
-17 high-ranking officials of this government – 4 ministers, 2 vice ministers, 3 directors and 2 general secretaries – have relatives or partners with service contracts. 9 of them work in entities of the Presidency and 11 in the Congress. Find out the details of the high-ranking officials with family members and partners as contractors in this report.
The investigation carried out together with La Silla Vacía reveals a worrying panorama of non-compliance with transparency obligations in both the Congress and the Executive in Colombia. This lack of transparency affects public trust in institutions and highlights the need to strengthen control and compliance mechanisms in both branches of government.