UN calls on Mexico to expose official corruption
( 2001-05-24 10:45 ) (7 )

A senior UN official urged Mexico's new government on Wednesday to draw up a report on high-profile corruption cases that have destroyed public confidence in the rule of law.

Dato Param Cumaraswamy, the UN's special rapporteur on the independence of the judiciary, said corruption remained a widespread problem in Mexico and the government needed to introduce major reforms to clean up the justice system.

He said a key step in restoring public faith would be to detail and explain the level of corruption and impunity allegedly enjoyed by some public officers.

"People are entitled to know what happened in the past," Cumaraswamy told a news conference in Mexico City at the end of a 10-day visit to the country. "I think it would be a wrong move if all that happened in the past is swept under the carpet."

President Vicente Fox took office last December after a historic election victory that ended 71 years of uninterrupted rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

One of Fox's key campaign promises was that he would launch a war against corruption and the abuse of power by government officials.

There has been vague talk inside Fox's government of forming a "Truth Commission" to investigate crimes allegedly committed by public officials -- ranging from corruption to human rights abuses and murder.

During the last two decades, it became something of a tradition for Mexican presidents to arrest a close ally of their predecessor soon after taking office in order to show they were tough on corruption, but most were either unable or unwilling to stamp out the practice in their own administrations.

Cumaraswamy said on Wednesday it was up to the government and Mexican society to decide the scope and mandate of an investigation into past abuses but he said any attempt to declare a clean slate and urge Mexicans to forget about the past would be wrong.

"The vast allegations of corruption and impunity have to be accounted for .... When you have high profile crimes in which public officials are alleged to be involved and they are not investigated, the cries of impunity become louder and louder," Cumaraswamy said.

Invited to Mexico by Fox's government, Cumaraswamy said he was sure the new administration was determined to tackle corruption and drop the old practice of Mexico's executive branch violating the independence of the judiciary.

But he warned that much needed to be done, from improving the quality of federal and state judges to properly regulating lawyers and forming an independent body to investigate allegations of abuses in the judicial system.

Cumaraswamy said he would present the government with detailed recommendations on judicial reform later this year.