2006 – Page 83

Following a meeting with President Leonel Fernandez at the National Palace, American ambassador to the Dominican Republic Hans Hertell ruled out the possibility that the Dominican Republic would not enter the DR-CAFTA agreement, and reiterated that the accord had been ratified by Congress and that there is enough political support to push the free trade …

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Even though two oil tankers have arrived in the Dominican Republic, apparently ending the recent fuel shortages, many gas stations were still without fuel as of last night. Contradictions continue between the explanations given by the Shell Oil Company, the government and the Venezuelan authorities for the reasons behind the lack of fuel. Although the …

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South African President Thabo Mbeki has met with Dominican Foreign Minister Carlos Troncoso, and agreed to aid the DR in stopping energy fraud with the possible implementation of pre-paid energy meters. Troncoso points out that 80% of South African energy is monitored through such meters. Aside from being fraud-proof, they are also wireless. Mbeki also …

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Finance Minister Vincent Bengoa, speaking at the Biarritz Forum in Paris, France, announced yesterday that in the last 10 years the value of remittances from Dominicans living abroad has been eight times higher than the total funds the country has received from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World …

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Presidential Administrative Secretary Luis Manuel Bonetti has confirmed that NGOs run by legislators and senators would not be included in the 2007 budget. Bonetti says that excluding the NGOs will save the government RD$360 million, and that the NGOs belonging to legislators take up 70% of the budget destined for 1,545 NGOs in the country. …

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The recently completed Senate term spent more money on “botellas” than on its official payroll. “Botella” is the popular nickname for the disguised corrupt practice of having no-show “employees” in spite of collecting their monthly paychecks. Clave weekly newspaper reports the Senate spent RD$851,239 monthly to pay 76 such employees and an additional RD$217,539 monthly …

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The government has added RD$1.669 billion to this year’s budget to cover payroll. This is 4.2% higher than approved by Congress. With this, the authorities have given in to political temptations in the use of the national budget, in breach of their promise to control expenditure, according to a report by Clave weekly newspaper. In …

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The Dominican monetary authorities have identified some 30 bank accounts said to belong to financier and former BanInter consultant Luis Alvarez Renta. Clave weekly newspaper reports that efforts to identify the property and resources of the economist, who is being processed for alleged asset laundering in the BanInter case, have extended to three states in …

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The Chamber of Deputies is examining the possibility of establishing a standard price for issuing official document extracts, full version documents, or any other type of certificate. The study will include the proposal for establishing a salary for officials and personnel who work at city registries. The proposal was presented by Luis Jose Gonzalez Sanchez …

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Diario Libre is reporting the possibility that Central Electoral Board (JCE) workers are involved in the irregular issue of late birth declarations for Haitians illegally residing in the country. Diario Libre says they have received reports of Haitians who were caught with forged documents, and named JCE workers who allegedly helped them to obtain the …

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