U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL SLAMS OVEREAGER PROSECUTORS

BOGOTA, - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno on
Thursday criticised overzealous prosecutors who unfairly overstep the
bounds of their investigations.

"I've seen some prosecutors get carried away with themselves and
exceed the bounds of advocacy and get to the point of unfairness," she
told the Lawyers' Club in a tony suburb of northern Bogota on the
second day of her 48-hour visit to Colombia.

Reno did not elaborate or name the prosecutors to whom she was
referring.

The Justice Department, which she heads, is leading calls to scrap the
law that gave rise to independent counsel Kenneth Starr's four-year,
$40 million probe of President Bill Clinton. Starr's investigation led
to Clinton's impeachment in the U.S. House of Representatives on
obstruction of justice and perjury charges. Clinton was acquitted in a
U.S. Senate trial.

Critics have charged Starr's investigation, which began with a 1980s
land deal in Arkansas and culminated in an investigation of Clinton's
extramarital affair with ex-intern Monica Lewinsky, was too
wide-ranging. Democrats have charged it was fuelled by partisan politics.

Earlier this week U.S. Justice Department officials told a U.S.
congressional committee the independent counsel law, due to expire on
June 30, suffered from "fundamental flaws" and should be scrapped when
it comes up for renewal by Congress.

Reno's remarks to the lawyers' group came during her first visit to
Bogota, the cocaine capital of the world.

She told the group the United States and Colombia must have "trust and
confidence in each other if we are to face the challenge of modern
transnational crime."

"We must let criminals know that there is no safe place to hide and we
must do that with respect for sovereignty of each nation and with the
interests of the community where the crime was committed," Reno said.

Reno has used private talks with Colombian police and justice
officials to press for the swift extradition of a handful of top drug
lords wanted for trial in the United States, authorities said.

Publicly, however, Reno has avoided specific mention of the
politically thorny issue of extradition.

Under intense U.S. pressure, Colombia reintroduced extradition in late
1997 after a six-year ban but so far no capos captured after the new
law came into effect have landed in U.S. courts.

Colombia's Chief Prosecutor Alfonso Gomez said on Wednesday that
during her visit, Reno reiterated U.S. calls for the extradition of
four drug lords who were captured after extradition was
reintroduced.

At least 10 other drug traffickers in Colombian jails could be
extradited for their alleged role in shipping huge consignments of
heroin and cocaine to the United States.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Colombia is
responsible for 80 percent of the world cocaine supply and produces
about 60 percent of the heroin seized on U.S. streets.

While calling for a joint front to fight international crime,
including narco-trafficking, Reno said a tougher justice system should
not be allowed to infringe on civil liberties.

"How do we address the problems of crime, violence and drugs while at
the same time protecting the civil liberties of our people?" Reno
said. "Some people have told me that they cannot do it because the
violence is so bad. But resist that because as lawyers we have the
responsibility to make the law work properly."

About 95 percent of all crime in Colombia goes unpunished, according
to the government's own estimates. But many of those who do eventually
reach trial are frequently convicted by so-called "faceless" or
anonymous judges acting on the evidence of anonymous witnesses.