2007 – Page 306

The consultants at Grant Thornton have analyzed the Dominican Republic’s economic perspectives for 2007 and are predicting a growth rate of 5.35%. Together with this economic growth, the experts indicated that inflation would be higher than last year’s 5%, and they foresee an inflation rate of 7.64% for the year 2007. The Grant Thornton report, …

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Adolfo Franco, the US Agency for International Development’s assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean believes that the DR has made progress but still needs to reduce corruption levels and improve social spending to secure improvements in the quality of life of its people, and work towards the goals of the Millennium Challenge Account, …

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The Armed Forces pension checks saga, which was first brought to light by Diario Libre, continued over the weekend. The national treasurer, Ruben Pena, confirms in an article in Saturday’s Diario Libre that millions of pesos worth of paychecks and pension checks were “diverted”. The official told Diario Libre reporters that he had discussed this …

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The National Investigations Division (DNI) has uncovered links between a band of document forgers and employees at the Central Electoral Board (JCE). According to Hoy newspaper, the investigators described the gang’s modus operandi and its tie-in to the JCE employees. Basically, according to Hoy, the existence of thousands of deceased voters on the electoral rolls …

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Perhaps prodded by recent declarations from magistrate Aura Celeste Fernandez, the entire Central Electoral Board has approved staff salary reductions of as much as 15%. The Board also suspended the purchase of new vehicles, first class travel, and accepted the government’s restrictions on weekend and holiday travel in government vehicles.

A number of attempts to put officials accused of corruption behind bars is hitting serious difficulties. According to El Caribe, five of the eight most publicized cases have failed to progress in the court system in the National District, some of which were under appeal. The Attorney General, Radhames Jimenez, promised to give his opinion …

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The Supreme Court has ordered a retrial of the case involving transport unions, former government officials and fraud against the state. Known as the Plan Renove trial, the court ordered that the National District Court of Appeals First Chamber retry the RD$1 billion fraud case from scratch. The decision was taken on appeal after the …

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The United States Drug Enforcement Agency and the Assistant Defense Secretary have announced a Caribbean-wide plan to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. According to Listin Diario, Assistant Secretary Eric Edelman and the DEA’s Michael Braun visited the Dominican Republic to discuss the problem with local officials. Both US officials were clear …

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The broadcast of a documentary with details of the DR drug trafficking business by journalist Alicia Ortega of Noticiero SIN of Antena Latina, Channel 7, resulted in an attack against the station while the report was being aired. The police is investigating the incident, during which a series of shots were fired.

In the areas around San Jose la Mina, Hato Mayor and Barrio Lindo in Santiago, neighborhood associations are forming self-defense brigades to thwart the rising criminality they perceive as a threat to their barrios. One community leader, Jose Francisco Consuegra, told Listin Diario reporters that “not one day goes by without a report of some …

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