BY VÍCTOR MAYÉN
The News
In the wake of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s controversial intervention in the case of Governor Humberto Moreira, Ximena Puente de la Mora, commissioner-president of the Federal Institute of Transparency and Access to the Information (INAI) argued for the inclusion of the declaration of interests of public servants to fight Mexico’s nationwide corruption epidemic.
While participating in the Forum of Anticorruption Matter, organized by the Senate, she said that the inclusion of this declaration is indispensable in the design of the secondary legislation, that regulates the constitutional reform in regards to fighting corruption.
The commissioner-president of INAI insisted that the declaration of interests would inform and define the assemblage of interests of a public servant, with the goal of determining possible conflicts of interests with their assignment.
“Being able to count on a declaration of interests on behalf of public servants would make it possible to publicize outside activities and income to the public, helping it to prevent possible conflicts between the private and private sector interests.”
She reiterated that a declaration of this kind would reduce the uncertainty of political activity in respect to other economic and financial interests, through a clear report of business activities, mandates, lending of services, including those of honorary character of the public servants in front of any entity with juridical powers.
Ximena Puente said that the National Anticorruption System was designed with two dimenstions: preventative and punitive.
The first, to dissuade corrupt practices and reduce areas of opacity and in the second part, to promote the investigation and sanction of corruption cases that currently exist or that took place in the past.
In this first conference, academics and specialists also participated, among them Eduardo Bohórquez of Mexican Transparency, Juan E. Pardinas of IMCO; Sergio López Ayllón of the Institute of Investigation and Economic Teaching; and Mauricio Merino of the Network for the Surrender of Accounts.