EL SALVADOR PASSES HISTORIC GOVERNMENT ETHICS LAW

id: 62714
date: 5/3/2006 19:33
refid: 06SANSALVADOR1166
origin: Embassy San Salvador
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination:
header:
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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSN #1166/01 1231933
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FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2230
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 001166
 
SIPDIS
 
SIPDIS
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2016
TAGS: PREL, ES, PGOV, KCOR
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR PASSES HISTORIC GOVERNMENT ETHICS LAW
 
 
Classified By: DCM Michael A. Butler, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
 
1. (C)  SUMMARY:  El Salvador's departing Legislative
Assembly on April 25 unanimously approved a comprehensive and
robust ethics law to oversee conduct of public sector
employees across all branches of government, following an
often-frustrating five-year Embassy effort to institute such
legislation.  Three weeks ago, most political actors,
including the executive, showed little interest in the law's
passage.  Ambassador and emboffs then put on a full-court
press with the political parties and gained their support.
On the day of the law's passage, however, the Embassy learned
that the National Conciliation (PCN) and ARENA parties
intended to water down the law's efficacy by placing it under
the oversight of the unreliable, and perhaps corrupt,
Comptroller's Office (Corte de Cuentas).  Embassy's
eleventh-hour lobbying finally convinced the ARENA and PCN
leadership that passage of their "alternate" bill would
damage El Salvador's image. When the vote was taken, all
political parties, including the FMLN, supported the bill.
Embassy's strongest allies in support of the bill were the
moderate-left Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR) and
Christian Democratic Party (PDC), both of whom refused to
support ARENA efforts to elect Supreme Court magistrates
until the ethics bill was passed.  END SUMMARY.
 
BACKGROUND
----------
 
2. (SBU)  In 1988, the Government of El Salvador (GOES)
ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption,
which entailed its commitment to approve and implement a
government ethics law covering all government employees.  In
conjunction with USG reconstruction assistance in the wake of
1998 Hurricane Mitch, the U.S. in 2000 signed a bilateral
anti-corruption agreement with the GOES and allocated
$350,000 for the creation of a public employees code of
ethics and the establishment of an office of government
ethics.  USAID was tasked with the implementation of this
agreement, and assisted the Flores administration (1999-2004)
with designing a code of ethical conduct and the
establishment of a GOES government ethics office.
 
3. (SBU)  In President Flores's view, an independent
government institution such as the Court of Accounts
(Comptroller's Office) represented the most logical home for
an office of government ethics; USAID subsequently provided
technical assistance to the Court of Accounts to review the
draft bill and make modifications necessary to adjust it to
its own internal legal framework.  The Court of Accounts
presented the revised ethics law to the Legislative Assembly
in March 2003; the bill was passed to the Legislative
Assembly's Legislation Commission, where it was tabled and
languished in neglect.  With Embassy support, the Legislative
Assembly withdrew the ethics bill from the Legislation
Commission in 2005, and established a new ad-hoc
subcommission to draft a more comprehensive ethics bill using
many of the principles, ideas, and language contained in the
bill submitted by the Court of Accounts.  The Legislative
Assembly on April 25 approved, with no dissenting votes, the
Government Ethics Law that will apply to all public
employees.
 
CONTENT OF THE LAW
------------------
 
4. (SBU)  The most significant features of the Law include
the following:
 
--  The Law's objective is to promote ethical conduct in
government by preventing, detecting, and sanctioning
corruption by public servants who utilize public office for
private gains.
 
--  All persons who render service to any government entity,
within or outside the country, including all direct-hire
Executive, Judicial, and Legislative employees, municipal and
other local government workers, autonomous and independent
government institutions, as well as contractors, are covered.
 
--  The Law establishes ethical prohibitions, exceptions,
public servants, rights, complaint procedures, and citizen
rights, and includes as sanctions warnings, fines, and
dismissals.
 
--  In addition to implementation via ethics commissions to
be created within each government institution, a new
Government Ethics Tribunal will be established as the supreme
administrative authority charged with enforcing the law; the
Tribunal's five members will include one representative each
from the Legislative Assembly (who will serve as President),
the Presidency, the Supreme Court, the Court of Accounts, and
the Attorney General,s Office/Public Defender,s Office.
Member terms of office will be five years, after which they
may seek reappointment; each member will also have his/her
own alternate.
 
--  Functions of the Tribunal will include:  promotion,
dissemination, and training on ethics principles among public
employees; resolution of corruption cases and imposition of
sanctions for violations; establishment of mechanisms for
public administration transparency; formulation and
implementation of policies regarding the appropriate use of
public resources; and the selection of members to be
appointed to ethics commissions in each government
institution.
 
--  The ethics commissions of each government institution
will be composed of three members with terms of five years;
their primary function will be to publicize the law among
their respective groups of employees, to train personnel, to
receive complaints, and to follow up on Tribunal resolutions
and propose administrative measures to prevent and curb
corruption.  (Note:  The National Mayors Association,
COMURES, will oversee the establishment of the commission
that will oversee municipal governments.  End note.)
 
--  The Ministry of Education will assist in raising
awareness of the new Law by including instruction on the
importance of ethics and the responsibilities of public
servants in public education programs at all appropriate
grade levels.  USAID's Transparency and Governance Program
will assist the GOES in implementing the law through
technical assistance, training, and observational exercises.
 
5. (C)  COMMENT:  Notwithstanding President Saca's 2005
decree instituting an ethics code for executive branch
employees, the GOES and Legislative Assembly had resisted the
Embassy's efforts to pass such a law for three years.  In the
end it did not come easy; Embassy learned of a last-minute
plan by ARENA deputies and their center-right National
Conciliation Party (PCN) allies to substitute alternate
legislation which would have placed oversight of ethics law
compliance under the discredited Court of Accounts.  In the
ultimate approval of the law in the waning hours of the
outgoing Legislative Assembly, support from the loose
center-left coalition of the Revolutionary Democratic Front
(FDR), Christian Democratic Party (PDC), and Democratic
Change (CD) proved critical.  FDR President Julio Hernandez,
Deputy Hector Silva (CD), and PDC President Rodolfo Parker
were particularly helpful in achieving this objective.
(Note:  In a two-hour visit the weekend following passage of
the Law, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz singled out
approval of the public ethics law as an important
achievement.  End note.)
Barclay

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