Recommendations of the Anti-Corruption System, without effect

The recommendations issued by the Coordinating Committee of the National Anti-Corruption System (SNA) have had little impact, according to data from the same institution.

Since 2017, the date when the SNA Coordinating Committee was officially installed, up to the present, three recommendations have been issued.

The first of these was agreed at the session of January 15, 2018, and is “addressed to the Executive and Legislative powers of the federal entities” and had the objective that judges and magistrates be elected based on their abilities and not on their links with other officials.

For this recommendation, the Legislative and Executive powers were given four years to respond on progress in the matter, which concluded on January 27, 2022.

In the session of May 25 of the Coordinating Committee, the final report of the recommendation was presented, where it was stated that a total of 64 official letters were issued: 32 to the Legislative powers and another 32 to the governors. Only six state executive powers (CDMX, Coahuila, Hidalgo, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas) accepted the recommendation.

Aguascalientes and Sonora partially accepted it; another 21 states rejected it; Chiapas said to take note and Quintana Roo and Tlaxcala never responded.

Regarding Legislative powers, five accepted it (Guerrero, Hidalgo, Quintana Roo, Nuevo León and Zacatecas); three partially accepted it (Guanajuato, Jalisco and San Luis Potosí); 13 rejected it; Yucatán did not make it clear if it accepted it or not and seven (Baja California, Baja California Sur, CDMX, Colima, Durango, Michoacán and Nayarit) did not respond.

“The acceptance of the Recommendation was only 16 recipient authorities out of a total of 64, that is, only 25%, which correspond to 13 federal entities. In only six local laws, modifications derived from the Recommendation were made, and the authorities of 13 federal entities accepted it, so the recommendation had an impact on the regulatory framework of 46.15% ”, the report concluded.

control

The second recommendation, which was agreed upon in the session of January 21, 2021, is addressed to the local Congresses to establish the creation of State Oversight Systems, whose purpose is, in turn, to guarantee the effective and efficient operation of the National Oversight System. Inspection, through the effective coordination of work and avoiding the duplication of functions in the inspection tasks, according to the Executive Secretariat of the SNA.

For this, official letters were issued to the Congresses of Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Durango, State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Morelos, Nayarit, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz and Zacatecas, in order to modify their laws to consolidate their Oversight Systems.

On January 27, 2022, the progress report on the recommendation was presented, in which it was indicated that of the 14 Legislatives, 11 had not provided answers; two (Chiapas and Guanajuato) indicated that the reform was being analyzed in commissions; and Durango indicated that their local laws already considered an Oversight System.

Digital platform

In the last one, taken in the session of January 27, 2022, the Local Anti-Corruption Systems (SLA), autonomous bodies and Judicial and Legislative powers at the federal level, were urged to connect to the National Digital Platform, which seeks to group bases of data from the institutions with the aim of preventing acts of corruption.

On May 25, a follow-up report was issued, where it was reported, with a cut-off of April 30, that 25 SLAs had accepted the recommendation; two requested clarifications (Yucatán and Michoacán) and five had not responded (Baja California, CDMX, Nayarit, Quintana Roo and Veracruz).

In autonomous bodies, two had accepted it (Inegi and INE); one partially (Inai). The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic and the Bank of Mexico rejected it; Cofece and the IFT did not clarify whether they accepted it or not and the CNDH did not respond.

The federal judiciary rejected it; the Senate did not respond and the deputies were analyzing it. By law, SNA recommendations are not binding.

politica@eleconomista.mx