Former Minister of Economy during the Danilo Medina administration, economist Juan Ariel Jimenez warns there are other black holes similar to the National Health Insurance company (Senasa) scandal, mentioning the Banco Agricola and the Reservas insurance company. He said he has the financials that prove the significant irregularities in these entities, when responding to questions in an interview with Colombia Alcantara for Al Tanto TV.
Jimenez, who is also a professor at the University of Harvard in the United States, joined hundreds of thousands of Dominicans who have expressed indignation regarding the Senasa black hole that has been quantified at RD$15 billion to RD$20 billion so far. The financials of the health insurance company show it owes suppliers around RD$10 billion for services in 2024 and beyond, and has been needing billions in injections of funds from the central government. The judge hearing the case, Rigoberto Sena has stated: “This is a dark and scandalous case of extreme gravity and cruelty; it represents a form of collective hysteria.”
Jimenez says the main problem that leads to situations such as the Senasa case is the high cost of the political campaigns. He blamed the past director at the Health Insurance Superintendance (Sisalril) for lenience in questioning the lack of reliable financial data from Senasa to put a stop to the situations that were detected early on. He says this was corrected with the replacement of Jesus Feris Iglesias as director of Sisalril with economist Miguel Ceara Hatton, the current superintendent.
Ariel said the Senasa financials were tampered with until the removal of Dr. Santiago Hazim from the director position. He said the Senasa carried out double accounting making transparency more difficult. Hazim was a leading campaign director for the Abinader presidency in 2020. He was appointed to lead Senasa in August 2020 with the start of Abinader’s first term.
Another key campaign director for Abinader, Roberto Fulcar was also accused of major corruption yet not charged when he led the Ministry of Education for the first two years of the Abinader presidency. Furcal also was a leading campaign director for the 2020 presidency bid.
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Al Tanto TV
18 December 2025