The Listin Diario has revealed that the deposed administrator of Bienes Nacionales, the department in charge of state-owned property, was building a house valued at RD$8 million in Los Restauradores neighborhood. (His full name?) Tio said the money for the house came from contributions from his friends. The construction was entrusted to the same engineer who is building an annex to Bienes Nacionales, the newspaper reports. News reports indicate that Tio had a track record of suspected corruption prior to being put in charge of Bienes Nacionales. He had been suspected of corruption in office shortly after he was appointed Deputy Minister of Public Works during the Salvador Jorge Blanco administration in 1982. He was appointed in August 1982, and in January 1983 was removed from the post for suspect activities. He was not a public figure again until President Hipolito Mejia hired him to head the government real estate department in August 2000. In less than a year’s time, he was arrested for suspected corruption again. Tio defended his work at the department saying that the decree by which he was hired gave him the authority to sell, lease or donate lands of the state. Hoy newspaper today publishes the first part of the case against him prepared by the Departamento de Prevencion de la Corrupcion and sent to the Procuraduria General de la Republica. Recent news stories on the case reported that money collected for irregular sales was distributed among personnel of Bienes Nacionales as well others involved in the sales.
