Every four years the headlines are the same. As the new authorities get a start, out come the stories of administrative corruption. Now that the three leading parties have held the Presidency, it is clear there are no saints. And there will not be unless administrative controls are put into place to stop the corruption before it starts, according to an item in the El Caribe newspaper. Well-respected former District Attorney Francisco Domínguez Brito, today executive director of the Fundación Institucionalidad y Justicia, expresses his skepticism about the present authorities’ fight against corruption. In El Caribe newspaper, Dominguez argues that less than four years ago, the case of corruption in the National Lottery on behalf of the PRSC government occupied the front-page headlines for many days. Nothing came of this, and the case, like many others, eventually was forgotten. In the DR unfortunately corruption makes big headlines, but there is little interest by the authorities in the following the cases to the end. "Today we are in a process that in two or four years will also disappear from the public scenarios," said Domínguez. El Caribe also features the comments from political analyst Jose Israel Cuello who says that what is going on with the government making headlines with cases of administrative corruption is nothing but a somewhat cynical montage. In his opinion, in the DR there hasn’t ever been a confrontation against corruption that does not have a political motive, but it in the changes of government, or to produce an effect sought by the government. Domínguez points out, "If the government does not set up a system for choosing public works or government purchases that is clearly defined, then it is not fighting against corruption," he says, commenting that what took a lifetime to build a fortune can now be realized in four years (government terms last four years). "If they talk of corruption but do not pass the bill for public works allotment that is pending in Congress, then they are saying nothing," said Domínguez. Meanwhile, El Siglo newspaper points out that the director of the Dirección de Aprovisionamiento del Gobierno, the government department in charge of making state purchases, has complained that that office only handled purchases for RD$50 million of RD$15,000 million purchased by the government. Director Manuel Ramírez Pérez says that considerable savings could be had by centralizing government purchases to take advantage of wholesale prices, and by the programming of these on an annual basis. El Siglo says Ramírez has complained there is a lack of interest in the government to centralize state purchases. He said that the government departments do not want to give up the commissions suppliers provide to those making purchases directly. The El Siglo editorial comments: "That is one of the most frequent ways to operate a bottomless barrel of corruption and administrative incompetence." Ramírez Pérez estimates that the bad management of government purchases will mean a higher cost of RD$5,000 million for the state, in a nation with a National Budget of RD$65,000 million. Says the editorial writer: "While the little tax package that raises the hairs of many businessmen is being discussed in Congress, the vices in the purchases of the government are discouraging all taxpayers." El Siglo concludes: "If there were controls, there would not be a fiscal deficit."
