The five members of the Chamber of Accounts, the government body that supervises the use of government funds, said they would resign if that decision would avert a crisis of Dominican institutions. The new members of the Chamber of Accounts were recently hand-picked by the government. Hugo Arias Fabián, Alcides Benjamín Decena Lugo, Francisco Osiris Martínez, Angel Santana and Altagracia Santana de De Veras said they would like to be able to be left to do their jobs. Speaking for the group, Arias Fabián said that he was elected to do a technical job, not to cover up for anyone, not even for the President of the Republic. They say, nevertheless, that to do an appropriate job as inspectors of the use of government moneys they need an increase of the organization’s budget of RD$23 million to RD$100 million. They say that of 500 institutions, only 12 are audited. He said that for example, neither the Armed Forces nor the National Police are audited.
