The Chamber of Deputies Finance Commission is seeking the application of other taxes to avoid the extension of VAT (ITBIS) to more than 200 basic foodstuffs. This would be done according to proposals received during the public hearings that were held earlier this week, but they will be careful not to harm the interests of the neediest and not to dismantle the bill submitted by the Executive Branch that seeks to collect RD$31 billion to compensate for the abolition of several taxes that will take place when the DR-CAFTA agreement comes into effect, according to commission chairman Marino Collante. Collante informed that there is consensus among the 23 members of the commission to study the application of other taxes on the wealthier sectors of society. Government spokesman Roberto Rodriguez Marchena stated that if Congress does not approve a tax reform that guarantees the resources needed, the budget allocations for several institutions, including Congress, would have to be reduced.
Rodriguez assured that this warning is not blackmail but rather a reality because the government has to have sufficient economic resources to invest in education, health, transport, and other services. "If there isn't sufficient income, what are we going to do? It's a matter of simple mathematics. If you don't have money, you can't distribute any," said Rodriguez.
The Executive Branch has sent a bill to Congress for the transfer of RD$13.538 billion for different investment expenses. Diario Libre reports that the resources would be used in the LPG subsidy, electric energy, municipal city halls, the Dominican Municipal League (LMD), construction and improvements. The funds would also be used to complete the fixed expenses for the rest of the year and other arrangements of national interest. This is explained by President Fernandez to Senate President Andres Bautista Garcia, specifying that the LPG subsidy requires RD$1.375 billion, the energy sector requires RD$3.472 billion, and the city halls and LMD require RD$900 million.
Listin Diario reports that the President stated that part of the resources would be used to cover the increase in the cost of fuel on the international market. The President stated that some government institutions did not foresee a 30% salary increase applied last January and that this situation could affect the government's ability to pay the annual Christmas bonus.
An official of the Azua Municipal Board, Luis Emilio Caraballo Vichez and city council members Ramon Dario Beltre, Juliana Agramonte and Osiris Nova de la Paz were arrested yesterday in connection with the fraud case where official passports were issued to fictitious relatives of elected officials. Diario Libre reports that Judge Natividad Ramona Santos has ordered former Technical Undersecretary of the Dominican Municipal League, Amaury Guzman, to be sent to Najayo Prison in San Cristobal. Guzman is accused of using his public position to obtain official passports and visas at the Ministry of Foreign Relations to false city council members, and their wives and children. Likewise, Judge Vanessa Acosta placed a RD$400,000 bail on PRD city council member Santiado Adames, who turned himself in on Wednesday. She also ordered an exit restriction and periodic visits to the Justice Department for Adames. Today at 9:00 am, Judge Roman Berroa Hiciano will hear the case for preventive custody against Pepillo Salcedo city council members Juan Rafael de la Rosa, Rosa Mercedes Guzman and Ignacio Manuel Rosa Nunez. Three Azua Civil State officers, Mayra Josefina Quezada, Maribel Cuello Diaz, from Padre Las Casas, Justo Manuel Valdez of Sabana Yegua, and Arelis Martinez Arias are also included in this hearing.
The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources has indicted the senator for Independencia Province, Dagoberto Rodriguez Adames, for devastating protected areas within the limits of Lago Enriquillo National Park. As reported in Diario Libre, the case against the senator and two other individuals alleges that they are responsible for having opened a trail 30 meters wide and 4,144 meters long and the deforestation of some 12.5 hectares of black mangroves, which affected plant and animal species within the Biosphere Reserve. "These people are responsible for damage to a protected area with an extremely fragile ecosystem and which constitutes an important biodiversity reserve," states the indictment. Rodriguez Adames told Diario Libre yesterday that the case has been passed on to his lawyers and that they are ready to fight. He declared that he was willing to give up his parliamentary immunity to go to court.
The Director of Preventive Police, Rafael Guerrero Peralta, announced yesterday that 54 motor patrols would be used for the surveillance of commercial banks, stores, and avenues in the National District and Santo Domingo Province, according to a report in Diario Libre. Last Wednesday, armed men robbed a savings and loans association in Sabana Perdida and on 23 August another association was held up in Cristo Rey. The patrols will increase their surveillance of the Simon Bolivar, Las Canitas, 24 de Abril, Espaillat and Luperon areas of the capital that have been chosen for the second phase of the "Safe Neighborhood" pilot project.
Fuel prices will increase again on Saturday, for the second time in two weeks, due to the continued high price of oil on the local market and because the US dollar exchange rate has gone up to over RD$31.00. However, the increase in price will not be as large as last week's when prices of premium and regular gasoline went up RD$12.70 and RD$10.00, respectively.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations inspector of embassies and consulates, ambassador Hernan Vasquez, has been appointed to travel to Puerto Rico in order to investigate the case involving the son of Dominican consul Eladio Espinal, who was arrested by the DEA with 37 kilos of cocaine and heroin. Last Wednesday, Edison Espinal Garao, son of the Dominican consul in Puerto Rico was arrested by US anti-narcotics agents together with two other persons with a load of 37 kilos of cocaine and heroin valued at US$10 million (see yesterday's DR1 News).
The State will exempt payment of taxes to the company in charge of construction of the Novo Mundo (Ciudamar) project, better known as the artificial island, as it considers that the project is of national and social interest. Tax exemptions will also be valid for subcontractors of Santo Domingo Re-Development, Ltd., of Canadian capital, according to the contract signed with the government and submitted to Congress. El Caribe has a copy of the contract. The exemption includes articles and material not available locally in the quality and competitive prices required for the construction, as well as equipment, furniture and other elements that are considered essential for its operation, subject to approval by the Directory of Tourist Development. The contract also stipulates the exemption of any tax, present or future, applicable to heavy equipment, vehicles, computer equipment, information, machinery, parts and pieces that are imported to be used directly in the execution of the contracted works. The exemption is also applicable to VAT (ITBIS).
Lisandro Macarrulla, President of Inversiones Turisticas Sans Souci, has indicated that the fact that the State will be compensated with public works for the sale of the land where the Santo Domingo port renewal project is to be built, does not mean it will not receive money for the transaction. El Caribe reports that Macarulla stated that the government would receive US$70 million for the Santo Domingo port concession and for the construction of public infrastructure that will benefit the areas of Villa Duarte, the Colonial Zone and Ciudad Nueva. He admits that the government will not receive liquid cash in the negotiation but he assures that with the proposed system his company is paying in "the noblest manner". Infrastructure to be built will solve transit, environment and sewage disposal problems, and will contribute to the renewal of public areas. He added that the initiative for this sort of compensation had come from the government as a means of maintaining transparency in the negotiation.
Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, Dominican designer Oscar de la Renta and Theodore Keel, as well as Punta Cana Group led by hotelier Frank Rainieri, are being sued for RD$500 million in damages by attorneys Hernandez and Hernandez who claim they have been unable to make use of land they obtained in payment of professional honorarium for services provided. According to Listin Diario, Oscar Hernandez Rosario and Lincoln Hernandez Peguero claim that after transferring 90 hectares of land, the Punta Cana Group and its main directors took judicial action beyond the law trying to annul the agreement. The plaintiffs are represented by former Attorney General Abel Rodriguez del Orbe, who explained that the 90 hectares of land were part of a dump which has acquired a lot of value after the construction of nearby Cap-Cana Beach Resort began. When the plaintiffs rejected Rainieri's proposals to repurchase the property, he ordered Punta Cana Group security personnel to invade the land twice, leading the lawyers to file complaints against him for trespassing.
A DPA cable reports that many German criminals seek refuge in the Dominican Republic with the intention of evading justice in their own country, according to information which is to appear in Saturday's issue of "Der Spiegel" weekly magazine. An anonymous high-level German diplomat quoted by the German magazine states that "in no other place is there such a terrible mixture of Germans". A BKA criminal police official also quoted in the article says that the country has become a "retirement zone for criminals" sought by authorities for drug trafficking, pedophilia, fraud or tax evasion, among other charges. According to the sources, the lax entry conditions applied in the DR makes it easy for criminals to mingle with more than 30,000 German residents in the country.
Anti-narcotics and airport security personnel have arrested a group of French citizens who were trying to smuggle 13.320 kilos of cocaine to Paris on Corsair flight SS-915 on Monday evening at the Airport of La Romana. A report in El Caribe states that the detainees are Aghiles Jelou, 20, Sonia Moulai, 24, Rafah Hamdaqui, 26, Amar Belhocine, 25, and Adil Bouzidi, 24. This information was provided by National Drug Control Department (DNCD) spokesman Buenaventura Bueno Torres.
University of Manchester paleontologist David Penney has been able to establish the age of a prehistoric spider trapped and preserved in amber for twenty million years, according to a cable by EFE press agency. Penney found the fossil - which measures 4 x 2cm - during a visit to the Amber Museum in the DR. Since his discovery two years ago, the expert has been able to extract small drops of blood to establish the spider's age, also allowing him to determine how, when, and where it died. It is believed that this is the first time that blood has been extracted from a spider caught in amber and experts are confident that they can establish the DNA - just like in Jurassic Park, a film that shows how scientists are able to reproduce dinosaurs from DNA preserved in insects. Penney believes this spider was walking near a tree top twenty million years ago when it was hit on the head by resin, was caught and died. "By analyzing the spider's body in relation to the small drops of blood in the amber, we could determine how it died, in what direction it was walking and even how fast it was moving," said the scientist.
Starting tomorrow, on the first day of October every year, the DR will commemorate the National Day of the Elderly. This was informed by Vice President Rafael Alburquerque who will celebrate a ceremony today in the Presidential Palace to announce the plans to be developed by the National Council of the Elderly, a recently-formed state institution that will look after the wellbeing of senior citizens.
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