Since last Friday, EL TIEMPO exclusively revealed a ruling by the Constitutional Court that limits the powers of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) when investigating several entities, stating that the principle of separation of powers is being violated.
Indeed, in a decision, with a report by magistrate Miguel Polo Rosero, it is stated that “the powers, in matters of free competition, to investigate and sanction the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, the Ombudsman’s Office, the National Electoral Council (CNE), the National Registry, and the Bank of the Republic are unconstitutional”, for disregarding that constitutional principle.
“Institutional gag”
And although the CNE appears on the list that the ruling protects, one of its new members, Cielo Rusinque, former superintendent of Industry and Commerce, reacted to the decision, which she described as “institutional gagging”.
During her administration, the SIC conducted inspection visits to entities such as the National Registry, demanding mirror copies of confidential information, under the umbrella of processes for violation of free competition. In fact, cell phones of high-ranking officials were requested.
Now, through her social networks, Rusinque stated: “After many years, in a jurisprudential turn whose justification remains to be seen, the inspection, surveillance, and control powers of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce are once again the subject of controversy. This time, the debate takes place within the Constitutional Court, which is preparing a ruling that considerably restricts the scope of action of this entity, by preventing administrative visits and investigations against several autonomous entities and their officials, particularly the Legislative and Judicial branches and bodies such as the National Registry, the Comptroller’s Office, and the Attorney General’s Office“.
‘Who can defend us?’
She adds: “Beyond the legal dimension of the discussion, on which I will comment in detail once the Court’s ruling is fully known, I want to warn the public about the profound repercussions that a decision of this nature would have in the fight against impunity and economic corruption. Our thesis, which guided the administrative practice of those who preceded us, is that the scope of action of the SIC, as the national authority on free competition, covers all economic agents in the market, regardless of their status. Thanks to these powers, sophisticated illegal structures whose behavior severely and directly affects the proper functioning of the economy, consumer rights, and public resources have been dismantled“.
Rusinque asserts that, after the high court’s ruling, the question is: “Who can defend us? Many and very powerful interests are behind this institutional gag. The manipulation has been systematic and has operated from all fronts: guilds, traditional press, social networks, and sectors of academia with clear conflicts of interest. To achieve their goal, they have not hesitated to resort to the crudest disqualifications, even at one point designating me as the political police of a regime that was going to plunge us into the abyss of misery. None of that happened, but, apparently, they will get their way. I invite you to think critically and judge from common sense: what is the purpose of those who want to evade the supervision of the Superintendence? Why, if their behaviors are irreproachable, do they want the billion-dollar contracts they enter into to have no kind of control?”.
(Consult here all the articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit)
Today’s magistrate of the CNE concluded her statement by saying: “I think a clue lies in Bolívar’s famous phrase: «Only crime works in the shadow of mystery». And, meanwhile, thanks to the investigations our administration carried out, without political biases, the Government, through its spokesperson from the Casa de Nariño, presents as a great victory a case that we initiated, structured, and took to its final consequences, but we will see if the sanction imposed will be calculated based on objective criteria as my administration did or if they will act driven by the will of persecution and intolerance that has characterized them“.
For officials of the SIC itself, with her tweets, Rusinque would be challenging the Court itself and putting the ruling of a closing tribunal into question.
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