Despite having a case for corruption in a past exercise as mayor for La Romana still pending a court decision, it seems that Juan Antonio (Tony) Adames and his wife, Milly Nuñez, running for deputy mayor, on the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) ticket are likely to be the next incumbents of the city government in La Romana. In 2018, Adames was convicted to two years in jail for administrative corruption. He has appealed.
Adames was mayor from 2010 to 2013. His city government was cut short after city councilors took him to court for irregularities. In 2018 he was sentenced to two years in prison.
The case continues in court. His lawyer, former La Romana senator Frank Martinez, argued in an interview on El Poder de la Radio on Tiempo FM that a person is innocent until a definitive sentence is issued and thus is why Adames was not impeded to run for office by the law.
Martinez said that Adames was voted back into office after the incumbent Jose Reyes of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party failed at resolving garbage, drainage, public works demands of the La Romana city. The city government handles a budget of around RD$500 million a year.
Adames competed against Carlos De Pérez, running for the PLD, José Ignacio Morales, for the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) and Casimiro Martínez, for People’s Force (FP) and Social Democrat Institutional Bloc.
There is speculation that Adames chose his wife as his deputy so that if and when he is convicted, he can continue to control the city government purses.
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Listin Diario
Hoy
17 March 2020