Some four months ago, the Abinader administration initiated a program to weed out persons who were being paid by government bank transfers but who never showed up to work. As a result of the program at least 5,000 persons, with an annual pay of over RD$1 billion have been found to be irregularly on the payrolls. This is, however, a very small number of the over 600,000 government employment.
To detect the no shows, the government required that those being issued transfers show up in person for a job check and to collect in person a check for the services.
Diario Libre newspaper reports requesting information on the development of the program, but says the various departments and agencies where it has already been unfolded have been scant in providing information on the findings.
The ministries of Education and the National Health Service (SeNaSa) each had about 1,000 no-show employees on the books. As of November, 194 agencies, ministries, institutes, and other administrative parts of the administration have been paid in checks. As an example, the Ministry of Education returned some 1,200 checks to the National Treasury, and they totaled over RD$23 million (23 x 12 = RD$276,000,000 per year). It is obvious that the government cannot return to paper checks since payment is now 99% via direct deposit.
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Diario Libre
13 December 2021