The president of the Dominican Bar Association (CARD), Miguel Surun Hernández called the attention of the Dominican government to the recent US Human Rights Report issued by the US State Department and called for changes in the way the government deals with fighting corruption.
Surun Hernández said there is a need to strengthen the mechanisms for gathering evidence. “We have failed in punishing administrative corruption because the cases that have gone to trial have been flawed and as a result, the charges are often vacated by the courts,” he said. He stated: “Regrettably, in the Dominican Republic we get very bad grades in the matter of persecuting corruption. Our country has had a poor track record in bringing strong cases against officials that have abused their positions in order to enrich themselves. This must change. Impunity cannot be allowed to continue that benefits corrupt officials who are getting away with committing crimes, “he said.
Surun made the remarks prior to participating in the Constitutional Law and Democratic Participation Congress at the state university.
The US State Department report in its Section 4 on corruption and lack of transparency in government states that while Dominican law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, the law is not implemented effectively. The report highlights that government corruption remains a serious problem and public grievance. It reports that credible NGOs have noted that the greatest hindrance to effective investigations is a lack of political will to apply the law and prosecute particularly high-level politicians.
The report uses the case of former minister of public works Víctor Díaz Rúa as an example of this problem. A detailed government audit revealed financial mismanagement and millions of dollars in unauthorized bonuses, but the Supreme Court of Justice ordered the case definitely filed on 8 September 2016.
Read more:
US State Department
El Nuevo Diario
7 Dias
6 March 2017
