In the 2021 annual report, Citizen Participation calls the start of the prosecuting of corruption in government as the bright point of the year. Most of the cases under investigation by the Attorney General Office now under Miriam German Brito involve corruption in the Danilo Medina administration.
In the same report, Citizen Participation called on the Specialized Corps for Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (PEPCA) to investigate government officials that President Luis Abinader has dismissed. The non-partisan organization presented a list of 14 former officials who have been dismissed but there has been no conclusion to the reasons for their dismissal.
“Dismissal or suspension is not a palliative,” argues Participacion Ciudadana in the document that details the cases that should be investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. “President Luis Abinader has acted correctly by suspending or dismissing officials, but these should be duly investigated by the PEPCA,” PC states.
Over the past 16 months several of the cases as detailed by Participacion Ciudadana are:
Kimberly [Kinsberly] Taveras, Minister of Youth, suspended and forced to resign by public opinion, investigated after she could not prove her wealth of RD$106 million. Taveras went from being a mayor of small townships to a mayor contractor of garbage truck services to other municipalities. [This week Taveras was in the news for delivering a speech on motherhood and successful women entrepreneurs.]
Cecilio Rodriguez, director of the Student Welfare Institute, INABIE, was dismissed after being accused of awarding close to RD$11 billion to 1,260 companies without bidding, without legal status and without being registered as suppliers of the state.
Adam Peguero, director of the Dominican Postal Institute, INPOSDOM, was dismissed after the Procurement Agency (DGCP), the Ethics and Government Integrity Agency, and the Comptroller General’s Office sent President Abinader a file on the awarding of a contract without a bidding process to the company M Cargo.
Victor Miguel Polanco Severino, Vice Minister of Control and Regulation of Arms and Ammunition of the Ministry of Interior and Police was dismissed after being accused of illegal sale of arms.
Miguel Mateo Familia, director of human resources of the Ministry of Public Health was dismissed after being accused of giving continuity to the business of selling appointments that for decades has been denounced in that Ministry.
Tony Peña Guaba, coordinator of the Presidency’s social programs, was harshly criticized for handing out, at his discretion, RD$100 million in December 2020 to 67 orchestra directors, musicians and singers.
Plutarco Arias, Minister of Public Health, dismissed after the purchase of syringes with an overvaluation of 400% was denounced. The state was going to buy them at RD$25.00 when in the market they were at RD$4.70.
Julio Antonio de la Cruz Nolasco, General Director of Highway Beautification, was replaced after serious irregularities were reported.
Feyla Rodríguez Pavón, manager of at the Autoridad Portuaria, plus five employees, are under investigation for fraud in transactions at the Puerto Plata dock.
Antonio Gómez Díaz, director of Customs in Santiago, was dismissed for gender violence and sexual harassment.
Operation Caracol, an ongoing investigation by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (PEPCA), involves the former president of the Chamber of Accounts, Hugo Francisco Álvarez Pérez, for the crimes of obstruction of justice, coalition of officials, falsification of public documents, association of wrongdoers, complicity in different types of embezzlement, fraud against the state and laundering of assets from acts of corruption.
Juan Maldonado Castro, general director of Comunidad Digna, was dismissed after being implicated in the laundering of assets coming from drug trafficking.
Luz del Alba Jimenez, Minister of Youth was fired after ian investigation by the Procurement Agency, Ethics and Government Integrity Agency and Comptroller General’s Office found irregularities in a Ministry of Youth tender to purchase electronic equipment for that ministry.
José Altagracia Valenzuela, Dominican consul in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, was discmissed after being accused of selling visas.
The same report indicates:
“The balance of 2021 is positive for the Dominican Republic. “The Dominican people have once again shown their capacity to face adversity and the year ends with a promising recovery achieved collectively, both in the fight against Covid-19 and in the economic reactivation, in spite of the adverse factors that still persist. The year 2021 will also be remembered for the beginning of the end of impunity and for beginning to bear fruit in the fight against corruption that has dominated national life for decades.”
Read more in Spanish:
Participación Ciudadana
Hoy
Hoy
17 December 2021