Municipal affairs expert, Waldys Taveras considers that the city council in La Romana and Jaquimeyes should swear in the deputy mayors to replace the mayors that have Supreme Court of Justice court prison orders against them. Taveras is president of the Commonwealth of Greater Santo Domingo that operates under the Dominican Municipal League since August 2020. He is a former city councilor.
Mayor Juan Antonio (Tony) Adames of La Romana is sentenced to two years in jail and and Carlos Valentin Bautista to three years in jail.
Taveras stated that there is a situation of complicity of the political parties for allowing the contempt of the Supreme Court of Justice rulings.
“The Dominican justice system is so weak that there is no judge to execute the sentence. If the one who is condemned is an unfortunate person who stole a chicken and is free, he would have been sentenced a long time ago,” said Taveras as reported in N Digital.
Taveras said that concurrently with the swearing in of the deputy mayors, the city councils in both cases need to notify the Controller General Office to suspend payments to the mayors.
Taveras said that in not doing so, the members of the city councils of La Romana and Jaquimeyes are liable to an impeachment trial in the National Congress for refusing to comply with the sentences of the Supreme Court of Justice that condemned Adames and Valentin Bautista.
He said that by not proceeding to suspend the mayors and place the deputy mayors in their place, the councilmen are propitiating judicial contempt actions.
“They do not have to pronounce themselves on those sentences, which already have the condition of irrevocably judged. The only thing that the city councils have to do is swear in the deputy mayor and communicate to the Comptroller’s Office and the Budget Office that, by virtue of these sentences, these vacancies had occurred and those corresponding to the position were sworn in,” said Jaquez, as reported in N Digital.
Taveras, is a member of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Moderno. He said by not taking action, the City Council members are abrogating powers that they do not have.
The Supreme Court of Justice condemned the mayor of La Romama, Tony Adames, to two years in prison for not paying a debt to sculptor Luis Castillo. The incumbent mayor of Jaquimeyes, Carlos Valentin Bautista (Carlitos Pollo) is sentenced to three years for corruption.
“If the Chamber of Deputies assumes its role as an oversight body, with all these councilors a process of a political trial would be initiated, for serious faults in the exercise of their functions, because they cannot act contrary to a decision taken by the highest court in the country,” says Taveras.
Taveras said the Council Council cannot judge the sentences of the courts.
He said that in both La Romana and Jaquimeyes city halls, the mayoral positions are vacant, due to the immediate dismissal that occurs with the SCJ’s condemnatory sentences.
“They are disqualified from exercising public functions from the moment these sentences are produced and imprisonment is ordered,” says Taveras.
He explained that the Comptroller General of the Republic, via notification of the SCJ sentences, must communicate to the Banco de Reservas about suspending the disbursement of funds to the mayors in question.
Tony Adames despite being accused of corruption in his previous term as Mayor from 2010 to 2016, won the election in 2020. He chose his wife as deputy mayor. He ran for the PRSC political party.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
N Digital
DR1 News
La Voz del PRM
Listin Diario
15 March 2023