El Siglo newspaper reports that the Ministry of Sports ordered an over the board wage reduction. The newspaper reports that the budget of the institution is not enough to go around, thus the need for the reduction. The newspaper says that the payroll of the institution has gone from RD$4 million in August 2000, when the new government started, to RD$11 million, less than a year later. The revelation by the newspaper comes at a time when economists and business groups are alerting that the new gigantism in the state payroll affects the government’s own investment capacity, and affects business that is penalized by the government overspending with high interest rates and new taxes. Who owned the lot? Victor Tio Fernandez says that his department could not have sold the 3,382 lot on Avenida Charles de Gaulle because that property belongs to the Banco de Reservas, not to Bienes Nacionales. In a television interview on Color Vision, Hoy Mismo program produced by Cesar Medina, the government officer denied having signed the sale. He could not give an explanation for the power of attorney granted by former President Joaquin Balaguer that authorized Bienes Nacionales to carry out the transaction. The case brings to the forefront the lack of controls regarding government property transactions. For more on the case, see http://www.dr1.com/daily/news032601.shtml
