On page 13 of an extensive communication issued yesterday by the Constitutional Court, an important decision went unnoticed that has just put a stop to powers that the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) has been exercising, which some consider excessive and others a political weapon of the governments in power.
The decision is related to practices applied during inspection visits, such as the one that entity -in the times of Cielo Rusinque- made to the National Civil Registry, under the argument that it was supported by an antitrust investigation file against Thomas Greg.
Separation of powers
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO investigated and established that, in ruling C-293/26, dated last September 10, with magistrate Miguel Polo Rosero, it ruled on the matter in depth.
“File D-17041: The Constitutional Court declared that the powers of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce, in matters of free competition, to investigate and sanction the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, the General Comptroller of the Republic, the Attorney General’s Office, the Ombudsman’s Office, the National Electoral Council, the National Civil Registry, and the Bank of the Republic are unconstitutional, for disregarding the principle of separation of powers”, reads the decision.
Judicial police powers
At the time, the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO revealed that during the inspection at the Registry, reserved information was taken and they even requested the cell phones of high-level officials.
At the time Cielo Rusinque explained that the reserved information was going to be processed by software that would only read what interested them.
However, on March 17, in a first-instance ruling, the Attorney General’s Office sanctioned with suspension and special disqualification for 12 months Francisco Melo Rodríguez, deputy superintendent for competition protection; as well as three officials and 12 contractors of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), for exceeding their functions during administrative visits to the National Civil Registry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Revolving Funds of these entities.
The warning
The visits were carried out between March 12 and 21, 2024, when Rusinque was at that entity. However, past administrations attempted similar applications, under the umbrella of free competition.
At the time, the delegate prosecutor for preventive oversight of public function, Marcio Melgosa, had already warned about the unconstitutionality of those powers, an alert that led to the first-instance sanction. The delegate was emphatic that the SIC could not investigate independent bodies or other branches of public power, for violating the separation of powers.
(Consult all the articles of the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO here)
Now the high court speaks of excesses regarding the separation of powers. That point was raised by the registrar, Hernán Penagos, after emphasizing the autonomy of the entity under his charge.
The full decision of the Constitutional Court will be known in a few days.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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