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US$50,000 credit card limit Administrative Secretary of the Presidency Siquio Ng de la Rosa told the press yesterday that his information shows that the Baninter credit card designated for travel expenses of the President and used by former presidential security chief, Colonel Pedro Julio (Pepe) Goico, had a limit of US$50,000 dollars. He said he is aware of other credit cards in the names of other military aide corps officers that are used to pay for presidential expenditures in and outside of the country. The misuse of the Baninter credit card in the name of Pedro Julio Goico is being investigated alongside the questionable use of airplanes and a helicopter for the presidential advance team. Initial probe reports in the press reveal a free hand in spending. Colonel Goico, in addition to being security chief of the President, had also been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the security of the visiting heads of government and state at the Summit. Diario Libre reports that despite the probe having begun several weeks ago, Goico was allowed to travel to Japan and Canada in preparation for the presidential visits to those countries. |
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Credit card fraud to judiciary El Caribe reports in an online update today that the Minister of Armed Forces, Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez announced that Pedro Julio Goico Guerrero (Pepe) will be judged for a RD$40 million credit card fraud to the Baninter. He said that others involved are Navy men Alberto Sebastián Torres Pezotti who is also an officer of the bank and officer Pedro Díaz Ramos, and first lieutenant primer Newton Abreu Méndez of the Army. He handed the investigations to Attorney General Virgilio Bello Rosa. The jurisdiction of the case has yet to be determined. |
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Moving on electoral law reform With the “yes” vote of 122 deputies (of a possible 150), the Chamber of Deputies passed a first reading on the bill to modify the Electoral Law, sending it to a special commission that could recommend further changes. The bill proposes to divide the Central Electoral Board (JCE) into 2 chambers; one to handle electoral disputes overseen by 5 judges and the other for purely administrative matters overseen by 3 judges. The current JCE president, Morel Cerda, would preside over both chambers and the overall number of judges would thus be increased from 7 to 9. Spokesman for the PRD Alfredo Pacheco says that their goal is to adjust the monthly salaries of the municipal court judges, who at the present time are only paid for the duration of the organization of the elections. He is also proposing that the administrative chamber have 5 judges instead of 3. The Chambers also agreed to extend their working period for another 60 days. El Caribe newspaper reports that the PRD deputies would meet today with President Mejia to discuss the electoral law revisions, the placement of the sovereign bonds and the passing of the financial and monetary code. Last Friday, Mejia met with his senators. The opposition conditioned their returning to work on matters of interest to the Executive Branch - such as the further study of the US$600-million issuance of sovereign bonds and the proposals to change in the Electoral Law. |
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Morel opposes the changes The president of the Central Electoral Board, Ramon Morel Cerda, opposes the changes proposed for the Electoral Law and says he would contest the bill in the Supreme Court if passed by Congress. As reported in El Caribe, he said he was not formally advised of the changes that he feels reduce his position to that of a rubber-stamp-president. The electoral law is under reform as part of a coalition-led effort to resolve the political opposition to Ramon Morel Cerda’s position as president of the Central Electoral Board. His opponents base their opinion on the perception amongst opposition parties and civil society that he is partial to the PPH faction within the ruling PRD party. El Caribe explains that the bill proposal would create a three-tiered organization – one chamber to handle electoral disputes, one for purely administrative matters and the plenum that would choose the judges that would make up the two chambers. The administrative chamber would thereafter be responsible for choosing the principal officers to head the organization of the 2004 presidential elections. The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rafaela Alburquerque, responded by asking Morel to let the deputies do their work. Hoy newspaper published the proposed reforms in its entirety in its 7 November issue. |
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Advances and Rediscounts at the Central Bank Although the monetary authorities are working to maintain a highly restrictive policy in the face of possible currency devaluation, they have, on the other hand, reactivated a highly expansive mechanism within the domestic financial world - a policy whose use had been in discontinued in recent years and is known as “Advances and Rediscounts.” During the past few years the Advances and Rediscounts were held below the RD$1-billion mark, but in 2002 have jumped nearly 200% to an amount of RD$2.7-billion. The monetary reforms and adjustments of the 1990s had all but removed the use of the so-called “inorganic money” (money with no hard currency banking) from the management of the internal financing of the economy. The line of credit, Advances and Rediscounts, was held to RD$715-million in 1998 and 1999, but dropped to RD$674-million in 2000 and rose again to RD$924-million in 2001. Nevertheless, by September of 2002 the account had climbed astronomically to RD$2.7-billion. The reason given was the need for liquidity. |
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Why drain the toxic waste reservoir? Diario Libre reports today that the Corporate Mining Unit (UCM), a division of the government created to promote mining business developments, is seeking a US$50-million loan to resolve environmental damages caused by the mismanagement of wastes from gold extraction in the Cotui Rosario Mining plant. The mining and mineral processing waste was being stored in the Meijita Dam and has become a matter of controversial clash between the UCM and the Ministry of Environment. Diario Libre says that the loan sought by the UCM is excessive, when taking into account that the contract signed with Placer Dome distributes the responsibility for the environmental damage. Reportedly, Placer Dome is contractually responsible for damage in the area of the mine, while the state is responsible for its exterior area. The newspaper says that the government needs to be alert because, according to Dominican environmentalists, if water laden with acid and heavy metals is released from the dam to the exterior, the Dominican government will have to assume a much greater part of the cost to correct the environmental damage to the area. The Ministry of Environment disputed a recent decision of the Corporate Mining Unit to drain the dam. Miguel Peña de los Santos, director of the UCM, argued the need to do so on the grounds of imminent structural damage to the dam. Deputy Minister of Environment Rene Ledesma negated any such threat of structural damage to the dam. El Caribe also reports on the conflict between the Ministry of Environment and the Unidad Corporativa Minera on the Rosario Mining environmental problem. The newspaper says that the UCM alleges that Rob Dorey of the SRK Consulting firm was never able to meet with Ministry of Environment officers over the case. Miguel Peña told the newspaper: “We know that the future of mining in our country depends on the opening of the mine (Pueblo Viejo, Cotui) and as thus we have been taking special care so that this tender and the investment that Placer Dome is making may not be affected by the discussing of matters in the media rather than on the technical table.” |
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Not even ex-President safe from break-ins The Diandy XVIII fourth floor apartment (on Calle Jose Andres Aybar) of ex-President Leonel Fernandez was allegedly burglarized yesterday. There were no signs of forced entry, but, apparently, the burglars were able to gain entry to 3 doors to the fourth floor apartment, rifle through the belongings of the former President and leave without alerting the residence’s sole occupant. The visitors removed his laptop and a desk clock, which were later found in the apartment of Milton Messina, which was reportedly also ransacked by the intruders. “This just goes to show that in this country anything can happen,” said Fernandez, who maintained that nothing was taken. As reported in Diario Libre, former President Fernandez explained that in recent weeks his security was significantly reduced by a presidential decree. The guard who formerly stood outside his apartment was removed - a step that may have enticed the supposed burglars into action. |
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Easy money laundering According to James Shaw, the head of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), the Dominican Republic is an ideal spot to launder money. Shaw said in Santo Domingo yesterday, “If I were a money launderer, or a drug dealer, and wanted to launder some money, I would look for a country that had daily income in dollars via tourism and a lot of places where money was circulating, such as casinos, exchange offices and auto dealers.” He also mentioned that the Dominican Republic is a place where it is easy to construct apartment buildings, where there is a lot of grandiose construction happening, but where, for one reason or another, there are not sufficient loans available from the financial institutions to justify such buildings. In an exclusive interview for HOY newspaper, Shaw said that if all these factors are scrutinized, the obvious conclusion is that the country is a paradise for money laundering. While recognizing that the authorities are attempting to prevent criminal activity, he said that modern technological advances, such as electronic mail, facilitate laundering. Urging the country to be increasingly vigilant, Shaw said that only three cases have been successfully prosecuted under Law 17-95 on money laundering. He pointed out that between 1995 and 2001, 86 cases were brought to trial, but no convictions were obtained. |
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Tighter controls on money transfers A New York Times article focuses on the stricter controls that face Dominicans wanting to send cash home and the informal businesses that have been serving this function. The NYT feature says that anyone wishing to send money out of the United States now has to provide proof of their identity, thereby forcing companies to automate their businesses and report even minimal cash transfers to federal law enforcement authorities. The goal of the authorities is to track terrorist money trails and crack down on money laundering. With some US$30 billion of dollars being sent to relatives all over the world by immigrants in the US, the federal government wants to take steps to control money laundering. According to the NYT, the amount of data involved is huge, with immigrant workers sending an estimated US$30-billion a year home to their relatives. Reportedly, in the first six months of this year, money transfer companies handled an average of 160,000 transactions per day in New York State alone. To read the story, registration with the newspaper is required. See http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/12/nyregion/12MONE.html |
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Remembering Flight AA587 President Mejia headed a delegation of high-ranking officials that attended a mass at the Santo Domingo Cathedral on the occasion of the anniversary of the crash of AA587 flight in Queens, New York. 165 Dominicans perished on the ill-fated flight. In an eerie coincidence, American Airlines flight 635 en route from John F. Kennedy International airport to Santo Domingo, returned to NYC shortly after takeoff due to suspicious vibrations in one of its motors. The aircraft, also an Airbus-300-600, landed safely and the 185 passengers and crew were boarded onto another aircraft. |
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Ferran to be next El Caribe executive editor El Caribe newspaper reports that anthropologist-turned journalist Fernando Ferran will be the new executive editor of the newspaper as of 7 January 2003. He replaces Bernardo Vega, former governor of the Central Bank and Dominican ambassador to Washington, D.C. who had been entrusted with the re-launch of the newspaper after its purchase by the Banco Popular financial group. 75-year old Vega will continue to contribute to the opinion pages of the newspaper and has been with the publication since the change of ownership. His position is described as Delegate Editor. |
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Tourism up According to reports from the Central Bank, tourism is up by 23% for the first few days of November. In September tourism grew a mere 6.85% and in October saw a rise of 6.3%. Sources from Punta Cana and other destinations say that reservations are up and the expectations for November exceed those of previous months. |
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Baseball Last night’s results: The Aguilas defeated the Azucareros 7-5 in La Romana. Escogido won, 8-6 over the Gigantes in San Francisco de Macoris. Licey pounded the Estrellas 12-7 in Santo Domingo. |
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