The hearing in the Administrative Litigation Chamber was the result of a lawsuit filed by the ALAC Fund against the appointment of Douglas Pablo Rodríguez Fonts as president of the BRC.
The hearing against the President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele, to be held this morning in the Administrative Litigation Chamber, for the appointment of Douglas Pablo Rodríguez Fuentes as President of the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador (BCR), was suspended after that the plaintiff, the El Salvador Anti-Corruption Legal Advice Center (ALAC), challenged the fact that Rodriguez was bringing lawyers from the BRC legal team as his defenders.
Although the lawsuit is against Bukele, the current head of the BRC is part of that process.
For Wilson Sandoval, lawyer and coordinator of Funde ALAC, the fact by the president of the BRC is a violation of government ethics, “In the hearing we notice that those who were defending are the same lawyers of the BRC, and this it is unethical, it contravenes the Government Ethics Act, “Sandoval said.
According to the lawyer, in the litigation process, Rodríguez Fonts appears in his personal non-institutional character, that is, that the lack of curricular or lack of motivation of the qualifications of this public servant are an element of a personal and particular nature of such a person, who departs from the institutional work he performs as President of the BRC.
SEE: New BBC President Douglas Rodriguez does not comply with legal requirement for office
On October 27 of the previous year, ALAC filed the lawsuit against Executive Agreement No. 350, dated September 19, 2020, issued by the President of the Republic, consisting of the appointment of Mr. Douglas Pablo Rodríguez Fonts as President of the Central Reserve Bank, for failing to accredit the attitudes or requirements required by law, in this case, the Organic Law of the BRC.
Among the requirements to be met by whoever is appointed to this position is to accredit at least 10 years of experience in the economic area. According to the lawsuit, Rodríguez Fonts does not have it, nor does he have the technical academic experience required by the position.
Specifically, the Organic Law of the BRC establishes in the first paragraph of Art. 10, that to be appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the BRC, the designated person is required to “have notorious competence in economic and financial matters”; as the second indent of s. 25, provides that the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BRC, “in addition to the requirements set forth in Article 10 of this Act, shall have at least ten years of experience in economic and financial matters.
Rodriguez was appointed president of the BRC last September 19, following the removal of Nicolás Martínez, after appearing before deputies and claiming that Nayib Bukele’s government had more than $ 3 billion at its disposal to attend. the emergency due to the COVID pandemic 19. This contradicted the government’s version that they did not have resources so it undertook a campaign against MPs.
After the departure of Martínez, Rodríguez Fuentes arrived, but with his arrival the demand for ALAC. Due to the use of state resources to face a personal process, ALAC assured that it will report it to the Government Ethics Court in the coming days.
After admitting the ALAC incidents, the Administrative Litigation Chamber rescheduled the hearing for Feb. 3, Sandoval said.
Today’s newspaper tried to get the institutional version of the BRC or its president, but it was not possible. Fatima Quispe, from the communications office of this institution, promised to transfer the request and then communicate with this newspaper with the answer obtained, but at the time of publishing this material, she had not done so.