The Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus) says that the Office of Supervisory Engineers of Public Works (OISOE) operation is illegal and in violation of the Constitution. The civil society organization says it carries out operations that are outside its legal roles. Finjus has joined thousands of protestors who are calling on President Danilo Medina to close down the office, which operates as a parallel Ministry of Public Works, carrying out construction projects and reporting directly to the Presidency. Over the years, it has become the government office with the most corruption scandals, as well as gaining notoriety for the impunity with which the courts have treated these cases.
Finjus president Servio Tulio Castanos Guzman says that ruling No. 112 dated 12 June 2014 by Constitutional Tribunal declared the OISOE incompetent to build public works. This ruling was issued at the request of the National District Municipality (AND) after the OISOE constructed works on the Malecon.
Castanos Guzman said that former President Joaquin Balaguer had created the OISOE by decree to supervise public works, but the Presidency then authorized it to build, and now it undertakes more public construction projects than the Ministry of Public Works itself.
“The mafias that have been operating at the OISOE for many years are beyond the reach of any director that is appointed,” said Castanos Guzman. He stated: “That institution is totally illegal and President Danilo Medina is a decent and correct man, so the best thing for him, his party and the country, would be to eliminate it.”
On 25 September 2015, a contractor, David Rodriguez committed suicide in the OISOE bathroom, exposing a new scandal. The Specialized Prosecutor for Administrative Corruption (PEPCA) has sent two engineers, Alejandro Isidro de los Santos and Yoel Soriano Fabian, and lawyer Julio Rafael Perez Alejo to pretrial detention at La Victoria Jail. On Tuesday, 13 October 2015 former director Miguel Pimentel Kareh and technical director Jose Miguel Florencio were questioned by PEPCA.
Before President Danilo Medina appointed Pimentel Kareh in 2012, the office was headed by senator Felix Bautista, who is accused of corruption worth billions by the Prosecutor General Office but the case has not been able to move through the courts.