The project returned to the Justice Commission for the preparation of the report for a second debate.
A second debate passed the reform of the Organic Law of the State Comptroller’s Office, which hopes to correct the legal vacuum regarding who should assume the position in the event of the permanent and temporary absence of the main authority of that control body.
It is proposed that, in the event of permanent absence, to be determined after 90 days, the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS) will designate the replacement by resorting to the contest of merits and opposition in which the best score was determined in prelation order.
Dalton Bacigalupo (ID), speaker of the report for the first debate, recalled the level of degradation that the State Comptroller’s Office has reached, where a former comptroller is on the run; another, imprisoned for acts of corruption; and a current deputy comptroller, appointed with serious doubts, from jail.
The fundamental thing about the reform, he stressed, is that it is defined that, in the event of the definitive absence of the State comptroller, the CPCCS will designate the next best scored in order of priority from the same public competitive examination and merits with which the first authority of the Comptroller General of the State, and will exercise its functions for the remaining time of the current period.
Bacigalupo said that it must be borne in mind that in 2022 the period for which the incumbent, Carlos Pólit was appointed, expires and that they will be forced to appoint a comptroller, the more so than the current deputy comptroller, Carlos Riofrío, will face impeachment which has already been approved by the Legislative Administration Council (CAL).
He proposed including in the text under debate a transitory one in case the Assembly censures Riofrío, and the country falls back into a problem of constitutional vacuum.
The official Francisco Jiménez (CREO) indicated that it is necessary to include in the reform the reasons for the cessation of functions; include limits to the temporary absence of the official, to avoid pandering, for which a maximum term of 90 days is established; the definitive absence regime that will be applied after 90 days, and for this the same contest of opposition and merits will be used through the order of priority; and the appointment procedure for the replacement.
Sofía Espín, from the Unión por la Esperanza (UNES) bench, stated that for the second debate what is determined by article 210 of the Constitution, which refers to cases of selection by opposition competition and merits to an authority, should be observed.
He said that it should be considered that, regarding the priority of score, this is done only for collegiate bodies, while for competitions of merits and opposition of an authority, which is the case of the General Comptroller of the State, it will be the best scored and the controller cannot be appointed from the same contest, because the conditions changed; therefore, he maintained that the person who must appoint the official, until the new competition is held, is the CPCCS.
César Rohón (ex-PSC) indicated that the correct thing is that whoever assumes the position in the event of the definitive absence of the controller is the best scored in the competitive examination and merits where the principal was appointed. “What happens if in the coming weeks the National Assembly censures the current surrogate, Carlos Riofrío? Who will replace him?”
The project returned to the Justice Commission for the preparation of the report for the second and final debate. (I)
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