In a country where 70% of the population with a formal job makes less than RD$20,000 a month, a chart making the rounds of social media shows the upward increases in pay of a sister of former President Danilo Medina at the Banco de Reservas. The revealing information is causing more than just indignation.
Somos Pueblo’s Eduardo Sánchez Tolentino (El Piro) shared a letter where it is confirmed that the Dominican government has paid the sister of former President Danilo Medina, Aracelis Medina Sánchez, upwards of RD$314,032,087 since she was employed at the Banco de Reservas. She received a generous bundle of wage and benefits at the bank. The Banco de Reservas is the government commercial bank.
El Piro explained on Somos Pueblo TV that Aracelis Medina Sánchez was hired as an accountant at the government commercial bank on 24 August 2004, shortly after former President Leonel Fernandez returned to the presidency. At the time, Medina was the administrative director for the Presidency.
Upon leaving the position of deputy general manager at the Banco de Reservas with the change of government, Aracelis Medina Sanchez was awarded a first year pension of RD$847 thousand a month and after that a RD$400,635 a month pension for life. In her last year at the Banco de Reservas, she made RD$46 million, up from RD$9.6 million in 2012 at the change of government from Leonel Fernandez to her brother, Danilo Medina.
The Public Prosecutor Office is investigating Aracelis Medina Sanchz in the Anti-Pulpo and Coral corruption cases. She is suspect of being the contact in the government bank that allowed major violations of banking regulations.
The publication also brings to the open the generous pay scales that exist at the government commercial bank. Recently, the general public has protested the taxation increases arguing that the government first needs to correct wasteful spending distortions.
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Somos Pueblo TV
15 February 2022