Santiago Moquete, former director of the Plan Nacional de Titulación de Terrenos del Estado, a plan to legalize(?) the possession of state property by thousands, has criticized the practice of maintaining parallel payrolls at Bienes Nacionales, the government department in charge of state property. He said that his department employed a staff that was paid RD$600,000 or RD$700,000 a month but appeared on the Bienes Nacionales payroll as making RD$3,000,000 a month. He said that the parallel payrolls were to benefit political patronage. He urged the commission that is investigating a recent scandal at the Bienes Nacionales department to investigate this matter also. "I was the director of the plan, but my boss was Victor Tio Fernandez who took other decisions," said Moquete. Tio was recently arrested after TV journalist Nuria Piera revealed a scam at the department. Moquete said the present situation is beneficial for the government as it allows it to restart the struggle against corruption.
