The State Sugar Council (CEA), for decades a defunct government institution, has maintained a payroll of around RD$60 million a month, as reported in El Dia. The CEA was created in the 60s to coordinate the work of the government state sugar mills. These were sold to the private sector during the Leonel Fernández governments, but the entity, as is evidenced by the high payroll, was kept on apparently for political patronage reasons.
The RD$60 million payroll detail is from an audit carried out by the Chamber of Accounts, the government auditing entity, of CEA operations from 2012-2014. An El Dia newspaper report points out that the wages at the CEA run from RD$5,000 to RD$300,000. The total is more than the payroll at the Ministry of Energy and Mines (RD$18 million payroll) and the National Council for Aging Persons (RD$13 million payroll). The audit also revealed that a large number of the payroll payments are unsupported. At the time, the government did not take action.
Last week, the Medina administration appointed a new director at CEA, former governor of San Pedro de Macoris, Pedro Mota, after the murder of two radio broadcasters lead to a scandal that revealed many of the shady deals going on at the defunct government institution.
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El Dia
7 March 2017
