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Saturday 13
December
2003
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CORRUPTION-PARAGUAY:
Supreme Court Dismantled
Alejandro Sciscioli
ASUNCION, (IPS) - ''We're going to
exterminate the Supreme Court,'' said
then-president-elect Nicanor Duarte
Frutos in Paraguay as he launched his
offensive last May against the
corruption-riddled court.
His campaign culminated Friday in the
removal of two of the six judges who had
been caught up in allegations of
corruption. The four others on the
nine-member court had already resigned.
Although the president's words do no say
much for the independence of the
branches of the Paraguayan government,
the Supreme Court's reputation had hit
rock bottom as a result of corruption
allegations.
Duarte Frutos took office in August
pledging to wage an all-out war against
corruption.
The president of the nine-member Supreme
Court, Bonifacio Ríos Avalos, and
Justice Carlos Fernández Gadea were
sacked Friday after they were found
guilty by the Senate in an impeachment
trial that had begun in November in the
lower house of Congress.
To avoid being removed, another
magistrate subject to impeachment, Luis
Lezcano Claude, handed in his
resignation to the Senate Friday before
the session began.
In order to avoid impeachment, two other
justices -- Jerónimo Irala Burgos and
Raúl Sapena Brugada -- stepped down in
late October, and Judge Felipe Santiago
Paredes did so early this month.
There are now six vacancies on the
Supreme Court, as a result of the
impeachment proceedings, which were the
result of a pact between the governing
Colorado Party and the opposition.
Out of a total of 45 lawmakers, 44 voted
against Fernández Gadea and 43 against
Ríos Avalos, who were convicted of
violating the constitution, interfering
in legislative functions, improper
conduct, and corruption.
The other three justices, Wildo Rienzi,
Víctor Núñez and Antonio Fretes, were
not included in the impeachment trial
because they are the newest members of
the Court, and thanks to the agreement
that President Duarte Frutos reached
with the opposition.
In his statement of resignation, Lezcano
Claude said he had no other alternative
than to step down, since he was being
subjected to ''an arbitrary and unjust
process” and that he was the victim of a
''spurious political pact.''
''The decision adopted by the Senate
cannot be founded in a serious and
responsible manner. It cannot be based
on legal arguments, or even logical and
acceptable arguments,'' he stated.
Attorney and journalist Rodney Smidbauer
told IPS, ''It is clear that the
political accord promoted by the
executive branch and sustained by the
opposition won out in the end.''
The analyst said the real winner of the
impeachment trial is Duarte Frutos.
''When he took office in August, he said
that by the end of the year, he would
empty seats in order to overhaul the
Court. Now that he has done so, his
political position couldn't be better,''
he added.
But Smidbauer warned that extreme care
will have to be taken now when it comes
to the appointment of new members of the
Court.
''Now the real intentions of the
political factions will be seen, and all
we will have to do is take a close look
at the names proposed by the different
parties,'' he maintained.
The Paraguayan constitution stipulates
that the Magistracy Council is to
provide a short list of candidates for
each seat, from which the Senate selects
one candidate, who must be confirmed by
the president.
However, there no mechanism in place for
cases in which the Senate and the
president fail to reach an agreement.
''The vacancies on the Court have been
created,'' said Smidbauer. ''Now, the
danger is that the designations will be
blocked by a stand-off between the
executive and legislative branches.''
Vice-President Luis Castiglioni said the
end of the impeachment process was ''a
great achievement for the government,''
which had assumed the task of
''restoring the legal security of
citizens'' as a top priority.
''Paraguayans will once again be able to
count on the reliable, trustworthy
administration of justice, and turn to
the courts without worry. It is really a
great day for justice, the government
and the citizenry,'' he added.
Duarte Frutos began to pave the way for
the possibility of a purge in the
Supreme Court in October, when he
secured the support of 36 of the 40
Colorado Party legislators in order for
parliament to begin impeachment
proceedings to remove six of the nine
magistrates.
The Chamber of Deputies presented the
accusation in parliament in early
November. It contained 20 different
charges, including violations of the
constitution, criminal association,
illicit enrichment and money laundering.
Once the process began in the Senate, 14
of the charges were thrown out after the
magistrates' arguments were heard.
But analysts said the number of charges
was reduced merely to speed up the
process.
The impeachment proceedings were
jeopardised on two occasions. The first
occurred when the deputies of the
National Union of Ethical Colorados
Party (UNACE), who are loyal to former
coup-leader Lino Oviedo -- now living in
exile in Brazil -- withdrew from the
pact reached with Duarte on the argument
that all of the magistrates should be
impeached.
On the second occasion, as the
impeachment proceedings moved through
the Senate, a court challenge brought by
the magistrates' defence attorneys came
close to bringing the political trial to
a halt.
The lawyers alleged that the rules
governing the impeachment trial, which
were drafted by the senators, were
unconstitutional because one of the
clauses prohibited the filing of an
appeal.
Paraguay is not the only country in the
region where the government has mounted
an offensive to renovate the Supreme
Court.
Last week, President Néstor Kirchner in
Argentina secured a fourth vacancy on
the Supreme Court when the Senate
removed magistrate Eduardo Moliné
O'Connor, who was found guilty for two
of the nine charges against him in a
two-month impeachment trial.
Since the left-leaning Kirchner took
office in May, he has fought hard to
eliminate the ''automatic majority''
that the government of former president
Carlos Menem (1989-1999) achieved when
he packed the Supreme Court with
handpicked judges.
Julio Nazareno, the president of
Argentina's Court, was the first to
resign, to avoid impeachment. Kirchner
formally accepted last week the
resignation of Guillermo López, who
tendered his post over a month ago, at
the start of an impeachment trial
against him in the Chamber of Deputies.
According to the Berlin-based
anti-corruption watchdog Transparency
International, Paraguay is the
fourth-most corrupt country in the
world, only ahead of Haiti, Nigeria and
Bangladesh.
It ranked 130th out of 133 countries
included on this year's ''corruption
perceptions index'', which defines
corruption as ''the abuse of public
office for private gain,'' and measures
''the degree to which corruption is
perceived to exist among a country's
public officials and politicians.''
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