How does the tool work?

The tool collects, systematizes and cross-references information from different public databases in order to identify inconsistencies or possible conflicts of interest - called Red Flags - in the Financial Declarations of civil servants filed in 2019 in Colombia.

A total of 78,328 Financial Declarations were processed to cross-check with information from public procurement databases (Colombia Compra Eficiente) and the list of extractive industries operating in Colombia.

Datasets utilizados

  1. Declarations of assets, income and the registry of conflicts of interest of the subjects obligated by Law 2013 of 2019. This database was obtained through a request for access to public information addressed to the Administrative Department of the Civil Service of Colombia. (2019)
  2. Operating companies in the mining and hydrocarbon industry. Base published in the official EITI Colombia portal. (2019)
  3. Purchasing operations of the Colombian state published in Colombia Compra Eficiente. (2019)

What is a Red Flag?

We define Red Flag as a potential conflict of interest not declared by the official or a possible positive case of inconsistency in the filling out of a Financial Declaration.

There are 2 situations in which officials may have Red Flags:

  • When Financial Declarations are incorrectly completed, or with incomplete, confusing or ambiguous information.
  • When there is a risk of a potential conflict of interest.

Red flags are automatically generated whether a statement is incorrectly complete and ambiguous, or whether it reflects actual information and is effectively a potential conflict of interest.

Four types of Red Flags were identified:

  1. If the official has participation in mining or oil companies and/or companies that are goods or services providers to the State.
  2. If the official's relative has a stake in mining or oil companies and/or companies that are goods or services providers to the State.
  3. If “participation in a company” is declared but “other income” is not.
  4. If “other income” is declared but “participation in a company” is not.

The universe of public officials processed in this project were divided into 4 categories for a better approach:

  • Group 1. Elected officials, authorities of the judiciary and other high-ranking authorities.
  • Group 2. Second and third hierarchy authorities (such as secretaries, directors, prosecutors).
  • Group 3. Others (workers, teachers, nurses, auditors, etc.).
  • Group 4. No position/Does not declare position.