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lthough I limited ability with the Spanish language I do enjoy reading or attempting to read the political cartoons. I came across one the other day that made me think and frankly scared me. On some level everyone on this island should be afraid. The cartoon by ?Chichi? shows a dark shadow covering the presidential palace and a giant with a briefcase apparently filled with cash labeled, ?corruption?.
We have cause to be concerned and alarmed but as a foreign company we can leave at anytime, take our people and go home; but what of all of you. ?Corruption? and unreasonable pandering to special interest is the first step toward control by them or your lives.
Our concerns are security and financial in the context of corruption. We are here at our own expense to determine whether it would be feasible to build and operate at least three but maybe as many as five alternative energy plants in this country. The current estimated costs of the first three plants could exceed US$150 million dollars. They are designed to produce 48 million gallon of biodiesel fuel, 16 million cubic meters of biogas or biomethane and possibly 120 megawatts of electric power. The costs to the people of the Dominican Republic for developing these plants is nothing; not one cent. We do however need something more valuable than money from the people of the Dominican Republic. We require the protection of the laws of this country that are currently on the books, balanced enforcement by law enforcement, protection of both our tangible and intangible property rights, total freedom to hire and discharge people of our choice to build and operate the plants, and efficient and fair customs clearance. So simple, but without these small details the plants will not be built; or at least not by us.
For almost two years now we have been assembling data, doing background research and sourcing equipment and personnel. We have worked very hard at maintaining a small footprint to keep potential parasites at bay. However we have entered the formal process and we know that they are coming.
The Congress of the United States enacted a law in 1977 titled ?The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).? It outlaws the payment of any consideration to a public official directly and further outlaws any consideration that a reasonable person may have cause to believe would be destined to any public official for services and benefits that are within the scope of his employment. The scope of the law is so broad that I could be sent to jail for even listening to an offer of a bribe unless I self reported. The threat of the FCPA is so great that I open very meeting with any public official with the statement set out above. I want people to understand that we are not necessarily in the energy business we are in the business of solving problems and we are not going to pay anyone for the privilege solving their problems. It is immaterial that we will hope to make a profit here. Profits are never guaranteed they are the result of solving problems; any company that solves a portion of the energy problem of this country will be rewarded. Why should it be different for us?
Dominican Laws and Regulations are an enabler of corruption and they increase the cost and size of government exponentially. All that one need do is to look at how we brought these projects to this point to fully understand how current regulations contribute to corruption. To rent a work space or office, to open a bank account or to lease a house a foreigner has to have provisional residency. We are realist and understand that countries need to protect their borders. My question is, accepting that need how can it be done in a cost and time effective manner? For us the process was not the problem. The problem was execution of the process by the Dominican government. We applied for provisional in June of 2007 and were finally granted that status sometime in November 2007. In all that time we could not hire staff of any kind or begin to work. For us that was bad but for the country it was worse. We could not work here but we had money to pay staff therefore Dominicans could not work either. We do not say that the country should its throw open it borders we are saying that the above mentioned restriction are unreasonable and serve no useful purpose. Had we stayed in country in hotel or other temporary lodgings we would have spent more than $US30, 000.00 and accomplished nothing and worse we would have been a target of every quick buck artists in this country including law enforcement.
To file articles of incorporation in the state of California requires one person and US$125.00 and takes about an hour. In addition the process is so simple that a literate person can accomplish it without the assistance of an attorney; it is a simple one page form. As a general rule it takes almost two months to incorporate a company in the Dominican Republic and the commercial registry office is packed with lawyers and clerks everyday all day waiting to see some government employee as a part of this process. The purpose of corporate regulation is to protect the public not to create more unproductive/make work jobs. I would argue that the citizens of California are better informed and protected than those in the Dominican Republic by a computer aided thirty (30) minute process than the citizens of the Dominican Republic with the time consuming clumsy process that is currently in place. The rule of corruption is that where there is an unnecessary or time consuming process there is an opportunity for crooks to profit.
lthough I limited ability with the Spanish language I do enjoy reading or attempting to read the political cartoons. I came across one the other day that made me think and frankly scared me. On some level everyone on this island should be afraid. The cartoon by ?Chichi? shows a dark shadow covering the presidential palace and a giant with a briefcase apparently filled with cash labeled, ?corruption?.
We have cause to be concerned and alarmed but as a foreign company we can leave at anytime, take our people and go home; but what of all of you. ?Corruption? and unreasonable pandering to special interest is the first step toward control by them or your lives.
Our concerns are security and financial in the context of corruption. We are here at our own expense to determine whether it would be feasible to build and operate at least three but maybe as many as five alternative energy plants in this country. The current estimated costs of the first three plants could exceed US$150 million dollars. They are designed to produce 48 million gallon of biodiesel fuel, 16 million cubic meters of biogas or biomethane and possibly 120 megawatts of electric power. The costs to the people of the Dominican Republic for developing these plants is nothing; not one cent. We do however need something more valuable than money from the people of the Dominican Republic. We require the protection of the laws of this country that are currently on the books, balanced enforcement by law enforcement, protection of both our tangible and intangible property rights, total freedom to hire and discharge people of our choice to build and operate the plants, and efficient and fair customs clearance. So simple, but without these small details the plants will not be built; or at least not by us.
For almost two years now we have been assembling data, doing background research and sourcing equipment and personnel. We have worked very hard at maintaining a small footprint to keep potential parasites at bay. However we have entered the formal process and we know that they are coming.
The Congress of the United States enacted a law in 1977 titled ?The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).? It outlaws the payment of any consideration to a public official directly and further outlaws any consideration that a reasonable person may have cause to believe would be destined to any public official for services and benefits that are within the scope of his employment. The scope of the law is so broad that I could be sent to jail for even listening to an offer of a bribe unless I self reported. The threat of the FCPA is so great that I open very meeting with any public official with the statement set out above. I want people to understand that we are not necessarily in the energy business we are in the business of solving problems and we are not going to pay anyone for the privilege solving their problems. It is immaterial that we will hope to make a profit here. Profits are never guaranteed they are the result of solving problems; any company that solves a portion of the energy problem of this country will be rewarded. Why should it be different for us?
Dominican Laws and Regulations are an enabler of corruption and they increase the cost and size of government exponentially. All that one need do is to look at how we brought these projects to this point to fully understand how current regulations contribute to corruption. To rent a work space or office, to open a bank account or to lease a house a foreigner has to have provisional residency. We are realist and understand that countries need to protect their borders. My question is, accepting that need how can it be done in a cost and time effective manner? For us the process was not the problem. The problem was execution of the process by the Dominican government. We applied for provisional in June of 2007 and were finally granted that status sometime in November 2007. In all that time we could not hire staff of any kind or begin to work. For us that was bad but for the country it was worse. We could not work here but we had money to pay staff therefore Dominicans could not work either. We do not say that the country should its throw open it borders we are saying that the above mentioned restriction are unreasonable and serve no useful purpose. Had we stayed in country in hotel or other temporary lodgings we would have spent more than $US30, 000.00 and accomplished nothing and worse we would have been a target of every quick buck artists in this country including law enforcement.
To file articles of incorporation in the state of California requires one person and US$125.00 and takes about an hour. In addition the process is so simple that a literate person can accomplish it without the assistance of an attorney; it is a simple one page form. As a general rule it takes almost two months to incorporate a company in the Dominican Republic and the commercial registry office is packed with lawyers and clerks everyday all day waiting to see some government employee as a part of this process. The purpose of corporate regulation is to protect the public not to create more unproductive/make work jobs. I would argue that the citizens of California are better informed and protected than those in the Dominican Republic by a computer aided thirty (30) minute process than the citizens of the Dominican Republic with the time consuming clumsy process that is currently in place. The rule of corruption is that where there is an unnecessary or time consuming process there is an opportunity for crooks to profit.
