The appointment of Enrique Martinez as Advisor on Territorial Development to the President has caused some major stirrings. The media has dug up stories that revealed accusations of irregularities when he was in charge of the State Sugar Council (CEA) from where he was removed in 2013.
Martinez actually is under indictment by the Chamber of Accounts for issuing checks with no supporting documents whatsoever, using Special Assistance payrolls, of salaries that varied between RD$3,000 and RD$20,000 between January and August 2012 for some RD$12,000,000.
The report says that during the period mentioned the existence of payrolls for work that was never carried out, assistance given to persons but without any supporting documents such as receipts, and payments for non-existent projects were issued for RD$132 million plus.
The Chamber of Accounts says that Martinez paid payrolls in agricultural projects such as Quisqueya Sin Miseria, and other areas in the eastern region, for RD$10.3 million, and which were never even started and much less completed. Another “irregularity” discovered was a project to improve the pastures in Hainamosa, in East Santo Domingo, but investigators found that the project had been completely abandoned and work had not been performed at the site for over five years, in spite of the more than RD$5 million paid out.
Read more in Spanish:
El Nacional
22 February 2018
