CDN investigative journalist Julissa Cespedes presented a report on irregularities in the tenders for school meals carried out by the Ministry of Education’s National Student Welfare Institute (Inabie).
Cespedes interviewed entrepreneurs that denounce the irregularities in the bidding process for the school lunches.
According to the lawyers of hundreds that have been affected, the Instituto Nacional de Bienestar Estudiantil (Inabie) violated several rules from the beginning of the process, such as the bidding terms and conditions and the schedule.
Julissa Céspedes, in her Reporte Especial, says some winners of contracts were hired for nine rations, while others were allotted 1,600 at 14 schools.
Cespedes says that the tenders benefited bidders who did not even have a kitchen installed with large allotments.
The National Institute of Student Welfare (Inabie) administers about 13.21% percent of the Ministry of Education budget that is 4% of GDP.
Cespedes said in the call for the public bidding process for the supply of food rations for school lunch, the Inabie established RD$13.36 billion would be spent on the school lunches.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
1 November 2021