El Dia’s ed itorial today, Wednesday, 1 April 2015, calls on Dominicans to reflect on corruption. The editorial comes after the Supreme Court decision to close the case for corruption and money laundering against senator Felix Bautista (PLD-San Juan de la Maguana) who amassed billions when in charge of the Office of Supervisory Engineers of the Presidency (OISOE) during the Leonel Fernandez administration. The Attorney General Office presented a file with more than 600 pages of evidence of corruption and money laundering. Nonetheless, the judge hearing the case in the Supreme Court of Justice, Alejandro Moscoso Segarra decided to put a stop to the case being heard in court, causing celebrations among party members and Bautista’s supporters, but widespread frustration and public discontent with the Dominican judiciary.
El Dia calls for Dominicans to reflect on the message, “Justice and Peace meet” of the Conference of the Dominican Episcopate during Easter Week. The message:
“Another factor that undermines peace is the accumulation of wealth through corruption. In every imaginable circumstance. Corruption is a source of inequality, but also of distrust. It undermines the state’s capacity to respond to the needs of the population, especially the poorest people. Corruption allows public money to end up in the pockets of a few and to be used again for political patronage.
“We have always been concerned with the phenomenon of the corruption mentality in public and private management. Most of our politicians spend millions on political campaigns to reach the government posts from where they handle state funds to multiply their economic investment. At the same time, large companies and businesses back the campaigns of the parties and the candidates who have the possibility of reaching government positions. They do so in order to be favored with tax privileges and laws that are advantageous for their companies and businesses. Thus, politics is seen as a business rather than a service for the collective good. In this dirty game of political interests, the only losers are the middle and lower class citizens who make up most of the population.”