Supporting documents filling the back of a pick-up were delivered on Wednesday, 17 March 2021 to the Anti-Corruption Agency (PEPCA) to accompany a complaint against corruption by the former minister of public works, Gonzalo Castillo. The Movimiento Etico-Moral, represented by Alex Díaz, says that Castillo irregularly handled some RD$239 billion over seven years of his term at the Ministry of Public Works. Castillo resigned the position when he was named presidential candidate for the then ruling Dominican Liberation Party. He lost the election to today President Luis Abinader.
The complaint establishes that 38 companies related to the then minister of Public Works benefited from contracting, “and many times without bidding, thus violating the Procurement Law.”
Diaz said many of the contracts took advantage of clauses for exception and urgency established by the procurement law.
Diaz said that to obtain the supporting documentation, he had to submit a recourse before the courts because, he said, the Ministry of Public Works did not provide him with the data and documents. “That is another of the weaknesses: the Ministry has a transparency portal that does not work,” the whistleblower maintained.
“We are sending these findings to the Attorney General’s Office so that they can carry out all the technical audits. He said the Pepca should send technicians to the provinces and municipalities to validate that the works were carried out to the contracted specifications.
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El Nuevo Diario
17 March 2021