DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

TV newscaster Alicia Ortega aired findings of a recent investigation into the situation of the Cooperativa de Ahorros y Créditos de Herrera (Coop-Herrera), a 56-year old institution with over 37,000 uninsured depositors. The cooperative bank could go bankrupt, and reports are that its depositors are desperate to take out their savings only to be told, “the system is down.” Most of the depositors are low income and these savings are crucial.

El Informe con Alicia Ortega explains that state prosecutors are investigating irregularities in the financial management and suspect money laundering operations of the cooperative bank that has owned up to around RD$10 billion in assets.

Ortega alerts the present situation with Coop Herrera is not about a cooperative that could face bankruptcy. It is about a system that handles RD$240 billion in assets and has hundreds of...