Congress President Senator Basilio "Bachi" Núñez, of the Colorado Party, defended his party's proposal to appoint two of its members to the positions of Comptroller General and Deputy Comptroller General of the Republic. The statement was a response to independent senator Eduardo Nakayama, who had suggested that the opposition should boycott the selection process if the National Republican Association (ANR) insisted on "cornering" the Comptroller General's Office.
On his social media, Bachi Núñez justified the potential nomination by citing the history of former comptrollers linked to the opposition who were convicted in court. He mentioned the cases of Daniel Fretes Ventre (convicted of money laundering), Óscar Rubén Velázquez Gadea (convicted of breach of trust), and José Enrique García (convicted for producing false documents). "We need to break this cycle with a transparent and merit-based selection process, not one based on political color," argued the lawmaker.
However, Bachi's defense is fraught with contradictions. He himself recently voted to place former Colorado senator Hernán David Rivas, who is under investigation for alleged degree forgery, as president of the Jury for the Impeachment of Magistrates (JEM). Furthermore, the current administration of the Comptroller General's Office, under Colorado member Camilo Benítez Almada, also faces criticism, such as approving an account statement from President Santiago Peña without a detailed clarification on the origin of his funds.
The claim that the ruling party's parliamentary majority allows it to bypass the opposition in appointments, a strategy already used in the JEM and the Council of the Judiciary, is seen by critics as an electoral maneuver that contradicts the public discourse in favor of integrity.