Interview: Mexican Senate mulls sweeping corruption reform

The Mexican Senate has the opportunity this week to pass a new legislation, which would seek to tackle the heart of Mexico's hidden corruption networks, Lourdes Morales, coordinator of the Accountability Network, told Xinhua in an interview.

Morales said that the General Law on Administrative Responsibilities for Public Servants seeks to establish new prevention, investigation and penalty mechanisms for corrupt acts, to fight corruption that mar the country and cause increased social aggravation.

The Mexican Senate began debate about the law Tuesday after the experts-designed text gained the signatures of over 634,000 people in support.

It has also become known as the "Three by Three Law" as it would mandate that every public official would have to make three declarations on their assets, their fiscal revenue and their business interests.

According to Morales, this initiative would seek to register instances of corrupt behavior, such as bribery or influence peddling, to establish mechanisms for anonymous tip-offs and to incorporate private sector efforts to fight corruption networks.

"It is very important to think about corruption networks as people think corruption can be solved by jailing individuals, but this does not tackle the root causes of corrupt behaviour," explained the coordinator of RRC, which was created by over 60 civil organizations.

The "Three by Three Law" is part of seven initiatives proposed by the national anti-corruption system, created in 2015 to combat corruption in Mexico.

After several months of delays, the Senate's economic commission will begin debating the proposal, if it is supported by the commission, before putting it up for a vote in the full chamber.

"This law would show the population that there is an institutional path toward solving corruption, as this law was not reached through street protests," said Morales. Endit