Leading civil society organization Participacion Ciudadana has urged the Supreme Court of Justice and the courts to revive government corruption cases that have stagnated over the years.
In a request to the Supreme Court president Jorge Subero, the civic group urged the judiciary to move on the cases of the alleged fraud in Baninter and the case of smuggling of Chinese nationals through the Haitian border of which PRD deputy Radhames Ramos Garcia is accused. Participacion Ciudadana also raised the need for attention to the case of irregularities in the propane gas subsidy program in which Angel Lockward, a former minister of industry and commerce, is accused.
Alfonso Abreu Collado, Javier Cabreja, Isidoro Santana, Oscar Grullon and Miriam Diaz Santana, speaking for Participacion Ciudadana called on the judiciary to take responsibility for these cases.
Other dormant cases include the process in which Jaime Rodriguez Guzman and others are accused of illegal expropriation of thousands of tareas of land in the Bahia de las Aguilas nature reserve in the southwest of the country. Likewise, the case against the present minister without portfolio in the Fernandez administration Luis Inchausti and other officials from the first Fernandez government, for the illegal allocation of RD$1.4 billion in the PEME social program.
Participacion Ciudadana also highlighted the cases against Bancredito bankers Manuel Arturo Pellerano and Juan Felipe Mendoza, and the Banco Mercantil case.
Abreu Collado said that Participacion Ciudadana will continue to request that the judiciary deal with corruption cases, in the hope that these do not end in impunity, as has always been the case. He insisted that the state prosecutors carry out their role, but that the courts hear cases of those with political power or influence. He said that research into corruption cases in the country since 1983 shows that that judiciary is useless when it comes to prosecuting or condemning corruption.