REUTERS

Friday, 21 August 1998


                Colombian lawmakers deal first blow to Pastrana
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BOGOTA -- Colombia's Congress has dealt its first political blow to new
President Andres Pastrana by choosing a man with alleged ties to a major
drug lord to head the country's scandal-plagued public finance watchdog
agency.

The decision by a joint session of Congress late Wednesday signaled the
many possible obstacles that lie ahead if Pastrana --in office for only
two weeks-- seeks to push through legislative reforms without the backing
of a solid majority in Congress.

The president's opponents in the Liberal Party joined with Conservatives
who broke from Pastrana's alliance to name Carlos Ossa to the post of
comptroller general. The vote came despite a public appeal from Fabio
Valencia Cossio, the head of Congress and a staunch Pastrana ally, that
legislators reject Ossa's nomination because of his  reputed links to
Pastor Perafan, a shadowy Colombian business leader and convicted
drug-trafficker with far-reaching political ties.

Valencia called Ossa an "adviser" to Perafan. Ossa denies any wrongdoing
and only acknowledges he once provided legal advice to a company operated
by Perafan long before Perafan became a criminal suspect.

Opponents of Ossa also point to a videotape in which Ossa is seen warmly
embracing Perafan at a congressional reception several years ago Perafan,
described by authorities as the last billionaire Colombian cocaine
merchant still at large, was arrested in Venezuela in 1996 and promptly
extradited to the United States.

He was found guilty in June by a Federal court in Uniondale, New York, of
eight counts including engaging in criminal conspiracy and conspiracy to
distribute illegal narcotics. He is in jail awaiting sentencing.

The controversy has dealt a setback to the new president, Pastrana. He
was elected June 21 as the head of a loosely woven coalition backed by
the main opposition Conservative Party and known as the Great Alliance
for Change. He took office Aug. 7.

Pastrana's victory ended the Liberal Party's 12-year stranglehold on the
presidency and closed the book on the drug-tainted rule of former
President Ernesto Samper. But the Liberals still hold a de facto majority
in Congress and many Conservatives broke with Pastrana's coalition in
voting with an overwhelming majority

"Ossa defeated the Great Alliance," said one headline in Thursday' s
edition's leading daily El Tiempo. "The Alliance was given an acid test
and it fell apart," said Liberal Party Sen. Piedad Cordoba. Ossa, a
51-year-old economist who holds a degree in public administration from
Harvard University, has served in several high-profile posts in Colombia.
But he is also widely seen as an arch enemy of Pastrana, who attacked
Ossa bitterly on the floor of the Senate in 1993 after Ossa was caught
trying to leave Bogota's international airport with a small stash of
marijuana. Ossa was a member of the central bank's prestigious board of
directors at the time.

Five of Ossa's immediate predecessors as comptroller-general have wound
up in jail on corruption charges and the office, which is responsible for
auditing all government accounts and detecting official cases of
corruption or fraud, has long been steeped in controversy. The videotape
of Ossa and Perafan hugging, which was broadcast repeatedly on local
television this week, failedto convince a majority of lawmakers that he
was the wrong man to clean up a traditional cradle of corruption and
venality.

Ossa's acknowledgment that he once provided legal advice to a company
operated by Perafan was also brushed aside by a majority of legislators,
since they accepted his argument that the incident occurred long before
Perafan had fallen under suspicion of drug-related "illicit enrichment."

        Copyright 1998 Reuters Ltd.