CORRECTED COPY -- PROSECUTORIAL INDISCRETION?

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001352

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/EPSC, AND EB
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAM
STATE PASS USTR
TREASURY FOR DDOUGLASS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KJUS ECON PGOV HO
SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY -- PROSECUTORIAL INDISCRETION?
HONDURAN PRIVATE SECTOR VIEWS ON THE PROSECUTORS, OFFICE

REF: A) TEGUCIGALPA 1349

Corrected Copy: Corrected for formatting


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In reftel, Post noted the growing pressure
for a shake-up at the Public Ministry (home of the Attorney
General and his staff of investigators and prosecuting
attorneys). Initially driven largely by the revelation that
the USG had revoked Deputy Attorney General Yuri Melara's
visa for corruption, there is now increasing clamor for the
dismissal of the Attorney General and perhaps his lead
prosecutors as well. In reftel, Post expressed its concerns
that these calls for mass dismissals might have been spurred
by political and economic elites threatened by increasingly
aggressive investigations of corruption and organized crime.
In this cable we add the private sector's view that the
prosecutors' office is indeed out of control, but that mass
firings would likely be counterproductive. End Summary.


2. (SBU) EconChief recently discussed the burgeoning crisis
at the Public Ministry (ref A) with three senior businessmen:
the president of a bank, the president of an import-export
firm, and the government relations director of the major
brewery in Honduras. All were pleased at the attention
finally being paid to a situation they view as increasingly
intolerable. According to the executives, the prosecutors
are over-zealous, impatient, and insufficiently schooled in
civil law. They have, one businessman said, a mindset that
any time a complaint is filed someone should go to jail. Too
often, he said, they fail to discriminate between cases with
merit and cases that either lack merit or cannot be
successfully prosecuted. Others present echoed this
sentiment, recounting tales of prosecutors arriving on scene
with police in tow, demanding immediate payment of some
alleged bill and threatening the accused with arrest if he or
she fails to comply. The businessmen saw actions like this
as a clear violation of due process, since the accused is
afforded little or no opportunity to present his version of
the case.


3. (SBU) This tendency is particularly problematic, the
brewery executive noted, in civil and administrative cases,
which by their nature are complex and often prolonged. His
firm, for example, is in the midst of a trademark dispute
that has been ongoing since August 2004. His firm, accused
of infringement, successfully defended its right before the
Ministry of Industry, but lost on appeal to the Intellectual
Property Institute. As is permitted in the law, the brewery
then filed a civil court case appealing the Institute's
decision. That case is still pending before the courts and,
until a verdict is rendered, the firm is permitted to
continue marketing its product. The accusing firm, however,
allegedly refused to wait for the verdict and instead filed a
complaint with the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor
arrived at the brewery on June 21 with police and
representatives of the accusing firm, intending to seize the
allegedly infringing product. This violation of the due
process and presumption of guilt shows, the executive said,
that the prosecutors' office does not have the depth of
knowledge needed in certain cases, and lacks the restraint to
pick appropriate cases and do its homework before acting.


4. (SBU) All present agreed, however, that firing the
prosecutors would leave the public with the impression that
the political and economic elites had conspired to stymie
high-profile corruption and criminal investigations by
muzzling the prosecutors' office. The businessmen strongly
support active enforcement of the law (After all, the brewery
official said, "we distribute Coca-Cola, and what trademark
needs more protection than Coke?"). But all concurred that
the "young brats" (cipotes) in the prosecutors' office are
running amok and need to be reined-in. Though none
specifically said he would like to see Attorney General
Ovidio Navarro dismissed, all laid the blame at his door,
agreeing that the prime cause of this problem is his lack of
leadership at the Public Ministry. The prosecutors' office,
one said, has become "a circus."


5. (SBU) Comment: In our view, the looming shake-up at the
Public Ministry is a complex and dangerous affair. Clearly
there is widespread disaffection for what are viewed as
loose-cannons in the prosecutors' office, despite an equally
widespread recognition that corruption is hobbling the
economy and must be aggressively confronted. The danger is
that this growing sense that "something must be done" could
be mis-appropriated by those who benefit from the current
corrupt system and used as cover to eviscerate the
prosecutors' office and send a strong message that while
immunity may have been eliminated, impunity remains alive and
well. Post will continue to press the message with the GOH
that, while stronger leadership and increased prosecutorial
discretion might be called for at the Public Ministry, we
would look unfavorably on any wholesale firings of lead
prosecutors in an effort to halt corruption and criminal
investigations. End Comment.

Palmer
Palmer