VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTG #1099 3070102
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030102Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0976

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001099 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI HO
SUBJECT: ELECTION OF SUPREME ACCOUNTING TRIBUNAL 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  The Congress selected the three new 
magistrates of the Supreme Accounting Tribunal (TSC) on 
October 14.  The selection process has come under attack for 
lacking transparency.  The TSC is an important institution 
because of its government oversight function.  The TSC 
submits its findings directly to the Attorney General for 
prosecution.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) The National Congress selected the new magistrates of 
the Supreme Accounting Tribunal (TSC) on October 14.  The 
newly elected magistrates will take office on December 7. 
The election of the TSC generally takes place in November, 
but this year the election was moved up because Congress 
recessed from October 19 to December 1 in order to facilitate 
campaigning by its members for the general election scheduled 
for November 29. 
 
¶3. (U) The Supreme Accounting Tribunal is comparable to the 
Office of Management and Budget.  It is an independent 
government agency that oversees all administrative acts of 
public officials who handle government funds.  It is 
currently investigating and documenting over 300 cases of 
mismanagement and fraud which allegedly took place during 
past and current administrations.  The incumbents of the TSC 
have urged the National Congress to reform the Acquisitions 
and Contract Law to make the requirements for hiring and 
contracting by the government stricter.  The TSC has also 
recommended greater regulation of public spending, including 
representational allowances, severance pay ceilings, cellular 
phone bills, salaries, etc., in view of the enormous abuse of 
public funds. 
 
¶4. (U) The regulatory law regarding the TSC provides that its 
three members will be elected for a seven year term by a 
two-thirds vote of the entire legislature.  The law prohibits 
the reelection of the incumbent members of the TSC.  The TSC 
presidency is rotated annually among its members, in the 
order in which the magistrates were elected to the TSC.  TSC 
magistrates must be Honduran by birth, over thirty-five years 
of age, and hold a university degree in economics, 
administration, law, or finance. 
 
¶5. (U) The political parties engaged in intense lobbying on 
behalf of their candidates.  On October 14, the Congress 
selected by a show of hands the new members of the TSC.  The 
new magistrates of the TSC are: Daysi Oseguera Duron de 
Anchecta, who has served as Secretary General of the TSC for 
the past seven years and was proposed by the National Party; 
Miguel Mejia, general services administrator of the National 
Congress, who also served at the National Telephone Company 
(HONDUTEL) and the National Institute for Pensions and 
Retirement (INJUPEN), who was proposed by the Liberal Party; 
and Jorge Bogran, lawyer and former Deputy Attorney General 
for Environment in the Maduro administration, who was 
proposed by the Christian Democratic Party.  The new 
magistrates will assume their positions on December 7.  The 
two largest parties, the Liberal and National Parties, and 
the small Christian Democratic Party each received one 
representative on the TSC; the result of a political pact 
entered into when the institution was created on June 6, 2002. 
 
¶6. (U) Congresswoman Silvia Ayala of the Democratic 
Unification Party (UD), one of the small political parties, 
criticized the mechanism for appointing the new magistrates 
on the grounds that it lacked transparency and was the result 
of back room deals.  The president of the National 
Anticorruption Council (CNA), Oswaldo Canales, joined Ayala 
in questioning the lack of transparency in the TSC selection 
process.  Canales said that there should have been public 
hearings, like the ones which took place when the judges of 
the Supreme Court were chosen in January 2009.  Canales said 
public officials must be men and women of the highest moral 
caliber. 
 
¶7. (U) Comment:  The TSC is an important institution because 
of its watchdog role over the government.  The lack of 
transparency in its selection was a significant step 
backwards given the public processes used early this year to 
pick a new Supreme Court and Attorney General. 
LLORENS