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Jorge Bermúdez, Comptroller General of the Republic, has clear figures: When he took office at the end of 2015, the agency received, on average, two thousand complaints per year for administrative irregularities. And today, he says firmly, more than 35 thousand have arrived. “We have had an exponential increase in the requirements of people regarding events that they consider irregular.” It was based on this sustained increase in cases and due to the second stage of its strategic plan, that the Comptroller’s Office carried out a consultation to find out the perception of corruption in the State. And the results, Bermúdez tells ThirdThey are decisive.
Why did the Comptroller’s Office order this study?
We are working on the new strategic plan, so we wanted to have an idea of what is expected of an institution like the Comptroller’s Office. Know if people expect the Comptroller to be the body that also has to participate in the fight against corruption. If we have to make alliances with other (organizations), what is the Comptroller’s Office lacking in order to continue making its mark? I think this allows us to verify that the issue of corruption, and the fight against corruption, is an issue that matters to citizens. It is a very important issue for the people, which underlies many of the claims that have been made regarding the last year in our country. And also one can conclude that this should be an issue that should be present in the constitutional discussion. I cannot imagine a new Constitution without a couple of articles, at least, dedicated to the Comptroller’s Office, in a regulation dedicated, for example, to public integrity, to the fight against corruption. I think there is what should (happen) from this study.
Should the fight against corruption be the subject of the new Constitution?
Exactly. Let’s put it positive: public integrity, probity, the principle of probity, are issues that have to be in the Constitution. Although it is true today transparency and probity are enshrined, that has to be maintained, but it has to be deepened in the Constitution. And there also has to be a kind of system – or recognized as a system – of anti-corruption institutions. The Comptroller’s Office is not and cannot become the only body that fights against corruption. In fact it’s not. You have to understand that we strongly dedicate ourselves to this, that is our orientation, but we have to work together with other institutions.
The study says that one in two people was a victim and / or witness of corruption. Have you seen corruption in the Comptroller’s Office?
No institution is exempt from the phenomenon of corruption. Where there is a bit of public or private power, there may be a situation of corruption or abuse of this power. So some of the controversial measures that I have adopted are along these lines. We are trying to take all the safeguards so that this does not happen within the institution itself.
Transparency International places Chile in 26th place in the world ranking of Corruption Perception. Do you think that the study generates a worse image than it really is?
These studies show a perception that exists, they are a snapshot of the moment and, therefore, this may change. I wish it were changing for the better. The opposite has happened to us as a country, we have been changing for the worse. But I look at the positive side: today the issue is being discussed, we are talking about it. Maybe before what we did was put a little things under the rug or the ‘skeleton in the closet’, but they did not want to discuss the issue, we were a bit delusional to think that we were a super integrity country, but in In reality, the practice was not like that, it was not so much (…) what people identify as corruption is the position of power in which someone benefits. And this seems to me to be very important, because it is a signal for those in a position of power, myself included.
Are resources and tools lacking for the Comptroller to attack this problem?
Today the legislation has fallen short regarding these situations of corruption. What we lack are tools, and that also says the study. For example, as the Comptroller’s Office, we do not have access to public services bank accounts. I am not talking about the civil servant account, I am talking about the public service account. Therefore, we cannot go and ask for a statement of the remuneration account of the Carabineros de Chile or a ministry. It cannot be done, even though it is only public money. There we have a tremendous deficit to carry out our work. The powers of the Comptroller’s Office must be well defined in view of the constitutional discussion that is coming. You have to define well how you want to design this internal control body.
Did corruption increase in pandemic?
Public control is difficult in times of pandemic (…). Here we are applying emergency legislation, and that is super relevant that they have it in their sights, where 99% of purchases by Covid have been made by direct deal. That is a tremendous alert, with respect to which we have tried to control, we have done everything humanly possible from the point of view of control and we have innovated.
