Twenty-two of 32 senators voted in favor of the bill for reforming the Organic Law of the Chamber of Accounts. The bill incorporates changes in the roles and scope of the members of the Chamber of Accounts.
The bill was drafted by Felix Bautista (Fuerza el Pueblo- San Juan de la Maguana). Senator Bautista was taken to court and eventually acquitted for major corruption during the Leonel Fernandez administration. Transparency International has described him as one of the most corrupt government officers in the world. In 2018, the US government’s Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Bautista Rosario (Bautista) for engaging in corrupt acts, including to reconstruction efforts in Haiti
The amendments to the Organic Law of the Chamber of Accounts now pass to the Chamber of Deputies. It requires for passing two-thirds of the vote of the deputies.
The deputies have yet to discuss on the floor whether or not to recommend to the Senate the impeachment of the five incumbent members of the Chamber of Accounts for supposed serious faults in exercising their positions. There is an impasse between the five members that has impeded the continuing of carrying out of the audits. At present, the decisions of the Chamber of Accounts need a majority to be carried out. The ruling PRM party legislators have expressed they favor the impeachment, but they need two thirds of the total membership of the Chamber of Deputies to be in agreement. Meanwhile, important audits to be carried out to government entities in this and the past administration are on hold.
Read more:
Senate
24 July 2023