This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

070028Z Apr 04

id: 15777
date: 4/7/2004 0:28
refid: 04BOGOTA3619
origin: Embassy Bogota
classification: SECRET
destination: 04BOGOTA2313
header:
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

070028Z Apr 04


----------------- header ends ----------------

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 003619 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOJ: PLEASE PASS TO DAAG MARY LEE WARREN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/06/2014 
TAGS: ASEC KCRM KJUS PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PTER SNAR
SUBJECT: PROSECUTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE OFFICIALS POLYGRAPHED; 
ANTI-CORRUPTION UNIT ESTABLISHED 
 
REF: A. BOGOTA 02313 
 
     ¶B. BOGOTA 03618 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (S) Embassy has raised U.S. concerns about corruption in 
the Prosecutor General's Office ("Fiscalia") with the 
Prosecutor General ("Fiscal General") many times in recent 
weeks, including several at the ambassadorial level.  As a 
result, Prosecutor General Luis Camilo Osorio directed a 
number of senior officials and members of key specialized 
units to be polygraphed.  Although the pass rate was nearly 
80 percent, some key officials failed and many others did not 
show up to take the exam.  Osorio is facing significant 
push-back within the Fiscalia, including a public letter of 
protest from some officials, an attempt to form a labor union 
to address the issue, and public criticism of perceived U.S. 
"intrusiveness."  In order to advance the process, Osorio 
voluntarily took a polygraph test himself, and passed. 
Osorio has agreed to remove officials refusing to take a 
polygraph test or failing one from units and programs working 
with USG agencies.  We have strongly recommended that he fire 
and initiate investigations into officials who failed 
polygraph questions, or did not take the exam, to determine 
if they are guilty of serious criminal activities.  Although 
he says that the bulk of those failing or refusing to take a 
polygraph will be fired, he insists that he does not have 
legal authority to dismiss officials solely on the basis of a 
polygraph.  Osorio has agreed, however, to transfer anyone 
failing or refusing to take the exam to non-sensitive 
positions in the 18,000-person Fiscalia.  He also has agreed 
to make clear to applicants for sensitive positions, 
including the new internal investigation/prosecution unit, 
that taking and passing a polygraph will be necessary to get 
the job.  Osorio said he will try to provide a list of such 
sensitive positions to DAAG Mary Lee Warren when he sees her 
on April 12.  End Summary. 
 
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Background 
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¶2. (S) In meetings in March and April, DAAG Mary Lee Warren, 
Emboffs, and the Ambassador met several times with Prosecutor 
General ("Fiscal General") Luis Camilo Osorio to discuss 
concerns about paramilitary and narcotrafficking-related 
corruption in the Prosecutor General's Office ("Fiscalia"). 
As reported in ref A, we called for all senior officials in 
the Fiscalia to be polygraphed, and for Osorio to establish 
an internal investigation/prosecution unit.  Osorio said he 
would implement the recommendations. 
 
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Polygraphs and Push-back 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) During the week of March 22-27, FBI polygraphers 
conducted examinations on members of eight units in the 
Prosecutor General's Office.  Four of these units receive 
significant USG technical assistance: the Anti-Narcotics and 
Maritime Interdiction Unit (UNAIM), the Witness Protection 
Program, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, and the Financial Analysis 
Unit (UIAF).  Additionally, officials from the Copyright 
Protection Unit, senior appellate-level prosecutors from 
Bogota and the surrounding department of Cundinamarca, and 
other senior prosecutors in charge of various departments 
throughout the country were tested.  The polygraph 
examinations included questions about ties to criminal 
organizations (paramilitaries, guerrillas, and 
narcotrafficking groups), drug use, improper handling of 
cases and evidence, corruption, and bribery.  In total, 125 
officials, including Osorio, were tested. 
 
¶4. (C) Twenty-one percent of the officials tested failed. 
The UNAIM director tested "inconclusive" and refused to 
retake the exam.  There were also a large number of no-shows, 
primarily appellate level prosecutors.  Of the senior 
district court prosecutors, seventy percent were no-shows. 
Approximately, thirty percent of district prosecutors who 
took the exam failed it. 
¶5. (C) In reaction to press stories and the sudden 
requirement for polygraphing, many Fiscalia officials have 
begun to push back.  Some members of UNAIM sent Osorio -- and 
then the press -- a letter opposing polygraph exams as an 
intrusion into their personal lives (Osorio has since ruled 
out questions on sexual practices, etc.), as a violation of 
the presumption of innocence, as inconsistent with the 
national constitution and several treaties signed by 
Colombia, and as introducing "foreign police agents" into the 
internal affairs of the Fiscalia (ref B).  The letter also 
protested investigatory or disciplinary actions against 
Fiscalia officials, of whom several were on our "must look 
into" list.  Osorio says there also has been an attempt to 
form a labor union inside the Fiscalia to oppose his 
measures, but he doubts it will come to anything.  Osorio 
himself bridles at insinuations that he is in any way 
corrupt, blaming rumors to that effect on backlash from 
previous decisions, partisan politics (he is the first 
Conservative Party Prosecutor General in a decade), and 
confusion about who is the genuine author of controversial 
actions.  Osorio volunteered to take a polygraph, both to 
confirm his virtue and provide a leadership example to the 
rest of the Fiscalia.  He passed. 
 
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Next Steps 
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¶6. (C) Embassy has urged Osorio to: (1) dismiss officials who 
failed the exam or refused to take it from units or programs 
working directly with the USG; (2) investigate officials who 
failed the exam to determine if serious criminal offenses are 
involved; and (3) continue investigations into the former 
administrative director of the Fiscalia ("Director Nacional 
de Fiscalias"), Justo Pastor, and Lucio Pabon, former head of 
the Witness Protection Program, both of whom recently 
resigned under allegations of serious misconduct.  Other 
suspected officials have been dismissed, including the 
Fiscalia's regional directors in the departments of Cesar and 
Norte de Santander; decisions on whether to conduct 
investigations into their activities are pending.  Osorio 
asserts he does not have legal authority to dismiss officials 
solely on the grounds that they refused to take or did not 
pass a polygraph exam.  He has promised, however, that 
officials refusing to take, or failing, a polygraph would be 
removed from sensitive positions, defined as those working 
with the U.S., those with high levels of responsibility, or 
those in which corrupt outside influences could play a role. 
He has promised to develop a list of such positions, ideally 
for his Washington meetings the week of April 12.  We have 
urged that the list include all office directors, district 
prosecutors, and senior appellate prosecutors ("Fiscales 
Delegados ante la Corte"). 
 
¶7. (C) Osorio has formally established the proposed internal 
investigation/prosecution unit.  He has identified three 
prosecutors for the unit and says he will name investigators 
soon.  We have emphasized to Osorio that before the USG can 
provide evidence and technical cooperation on corruption 
cases: (1) all members of the unit must be polygraphed; and 
(2) the unit must be "walled-off" so it has the necessary 
independence and freedom of action.  He has promised that all 
jobs in the unit will be considered "sensitive" and therefore 
require polygraphing. 
 
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Comment 
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¶8. (C) Osorio continues to resist the toughest U.S. urging: 
immediate dismissal of anyone refusing to take, or failing to 
pass, a polygraph exam.  The police, military, and 
intelligence services do not polygraph all their members, but 
only those in sensitive positions or who work with us. 
Within the 18,000-person Fiscalia, there is room to transfer 
suspect officials to less sensitive positions. 
WOOD 

=======================CABLE ENDS============================