The Bar Association of the Dominican Republic requested the Superior Administrative Court (TSA) annul the privatization of the issuance of Dominican passports.
According to the head of the guild, Miguel Surun Hernandez, Resolution 04-2023, dated 23 February 2023, issued by the General Public and Private Alliance Agency (DGAPP), that granted the contract to Midas Dominicana, S.A., was illegally approved.
Interviewed by El Caribe reporters during his visit to the Superior Administrative Court, Surun Hernandez said the resolution violates the Constitution and is fraudulent. He is concerned the country would be handing over to Haitian businessmen the control of the issuance of Passports and Biometric Data of Dominicans. He said this represents a serious risk to national security.
Surun Hernández questioned that the company will be borrowing the investment to carry out its works from the Dominican government bank, Banco de Reservas. As reported in El Caribe, if the passport deal goes ahead, the Banco Reservas financing could be for US$107 million.
El Caribe reports that Haitian businessmen who were sanctioned this year by the government of Canada, could be the beneficiaries of the contract for the issuance of passports. As reported in El Caribe, Surun Hernandez stated that behind the privatization process is GB Group, the company that in 2012 acquired the assets of Chevron Texaco in the Dominican Republic, and is owned by Gilbert Bigio. Recent reports indicate that a high-ranking officer related to the GB Group is an advisor to President Luis Abinader.
Surun Hernandez told reporters that he regretted that the sovereignty and national identity are being violated by giving to foreigners the power to identify who does or does not deserve the Dominican document.
He said that in addition to the above, he reiterated that this process is null and void for having been carried out without complying with the social audit of the feasibility of implementation of Public Private Partnership pursuant to Paragraph I, Article 40 of Law 47-20, which establishes that prior to the process of receiving private initiatives, the Council must issue a resolution that was duly based on public consultations with all sectors, impact studies in the poor and middle class sectors. He said this was not carried out. He estimated the passport issuing generates revenues of around RD$6 billion a year.
Noticias SIN reports that the senator of San José de Ocoa, José Antonio Castillo, presented a resolution requesting President Luis Abinader instruct the director general of Public-Private Partnerships (DGAPP), Sigmund Freud Mena, to stop the process of contracting a company to issue Dominican passports.
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El Caribe
Noticias SIN
20 April 2023