On 18 November 2019, investigative journalist Alicia Ortega shared evidence on her TV show “El Informe de Alicia Ortega” of major irregularities in works contracted by the Ministry of Public Works under Minister Gonzalo Castillo. Ortega focused on contracts signed from April to September 2019 for RD$11.5 billion in road paving works. She concluded the accelerated way the contracting was carried out was in flagrant violation of the government procurement law.
The contracts were signed with 38 providers for the paving and reconstruction of 2,730 lineal km during five months. This is equal to 70% of total supposedly executed roadwork of 3,854 km in 2018, according to the annual report from the Ministry of Public Works.
The Ortega special report revealed that the Ministry of Public Works had irregularly used a process of exception to benefit companies, of which seven received contracts for RD$300 million. The special report looked into details of the RD$300 million contracts for paving 70 kilometers each that were approved without indicating specifications of the products, such as hot mix asphalt quality, delivery conditions, thickness, temperature and where the material would be used to verify the completion of the contracted work.
Alicia Ortega said that “the festival of hot mix asphalt” had begun in April and ended in September 2019. The Ministry of Public Works contracts were awarded without complying with public bidding procedures, according to the journalistic investigation.
Ortega spent two months investigating the procurement and the layers of irregularities. She said that on the same day the Minister of Public Works announced he would resign to run for the PLD candidacy in the 6 October 2019 primary, the terms of a tender for the contracting was published. She found evidence that 38 companies were pre-approved and contracted for RD$300 million each for more than RD$11.5 billion in less than five months.
The five months term coincided with the ruling Dominican Liberation Party primary when former Public Works Minister Gonzalo Castillo competed for the party presidential candidacy against former President Leonel Fernández. Castillo had served as Minister of Public Works until announcing he would run for the PLD presidential candidacy with the backing of President Danilo Medina. He had around 60 days to promote his candidacy openly.
Ortega said requests made for information to the National Procurement Office and the Ministry of Public Works met with little cooperation. Information for the report was obtained on the websites of the National Procurement Office and the Ministry of Public Works. She said that subsequently, both the procurement office and the Ministry of Public Works would remove much of the information on the irregular contracting from their websites after they became aware that the case was under investigation.
Despite several attempts to get an official reply to the findings, Ortega said she was not received by the procurement director or the Ministry of Public Works, so these could reply on the irregularities uncovered by the investigation. Neither did Castillo accept to reply to the findings.
After the investigative report aired, Gonzalo Castillo’s response to reporters was: “I give you total security that everything I did in my administration was in accordance with the laws, and I always did it thinking of the millions of Dominicans whose lives I improved.” He responded to inquiries from journalists after participating in the National Business Council (Conep) 9th Business Convention on 19 November 2019 where presidential candidates received a country proposal from the business representatives.
Follow the story in Spanish:YouTube El Informe de Alicia OrtegaAcentoEl Nuevo DiarioListin DiarioLa Cuestion
20 November 2019
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