Media reports indicate that the Abinader administration is looking into business deals under the public trust scheme. The schemes fall under the Public Private Alliances (DGAPP) agency, now directed by lawyer Sigmund Freund.
The trusts enable the private players to not fall under regular government controls such as the Controller Office audits, the Procurement Agency controls, the wealth statement requirement and the deals usually ensure confidentiality. They are also being agreed upon for long terms, stretching beyond the present administration term.
After several legal and business experts questioned the contract signed by the Abinader administration for the Punta Catalina Trust to operate the 752 MW coal-fired power plant built during the Medina administrations, the perils and risks for collective interests involved in the trust mechanism have come to the forefront.
President Luis Abinader last Monday, 8 February 2022 told a select group of journalists and influencers he convened to a meal at the Presidential Palae that the government has 22 public trusts in operation or in the works to manage important services in the country. Abinader has been a strong defender of the private-public trust mechanism instead of modernizing the capacity of the state to offer the services.
After the recent uproar over clause in the Punta Catalina Trust, President Abinader announced the Executive Branch would present to Congress a bill that regulates public trusts in the country. The Punta Catalina Trust and the Pedernales Trust passed in the Chamber of Deputies and now are pending approval in the Senate when Congress reopens on 27 February 2022. Meanwhile, President Abinader requested that the Punta Catalina Trust be discussed by the players in the Economic and Social Council, a public-private entity. Congress reopens for sessions at the start of March.
The media is also focusing on a trust approved by the National Council of Public Private Alliances (CNAPP) of the Public Private Alliances Agency (DGAPP) that would allot the inspection of vehicles to determine if they are fit to circulate to a private company. The company would be responsible to set up workshops to carry out the inspections and would receive 90% of the collections of what in the past has been known as “la revista.” La revista has been seen as merely a tax over the years because no inspections are carried out. There had been talk that the inspections would be carried out by vehicular workshops located around the country, but the implementation of the new government program now approved by the CNAPP centralizes the inspections in one company that proposes to invest US$100 million to set up the superstructure.
Diario Libre reports that the proposal was presented by a Venezuelan businessman to the DGAPP. The company, Castillo Holding Company, S.A. is headed by Leopoldo Castillo Bozo, who is described as a person who has had legal problems. Sigmund Freund, director of the Public Private Alliances Agency (DGAPP) said in a recent interview on Esta Noche con Mariasela that nothing is definitive yet regarding the vehicular inspection project.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Esta Noche con Mariasela
Presidencia
14 February 2022