2008 – Page 278

The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Melanio Paredes, confirmed yesterday that the high oil prices “have shocked” Dominican officials, and represent a RD$25 million per month increase in the cost of the electricity subsidies. With oil prices closing at US$109.72 a barrel on the NY Commodities Exchange yesterday, Paredes said that President Fernandez had called …

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The chief magistrate of the Supreme Court of the Dominican Republic has warned the judges responsible for carrying out the sentencing phase of the case against the individuals convicted in the Plan Renove case that all they have to do is “follow the law.” Jorge Subero Isa told Hoy reporters that the judges would be …

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The Chamber of Deputies has heard two proposals for resolutions seeking to bring in government officials for questioning about the recently exposed “CB scandal” and the still-pending Sun Land Case. The CB scandal deals with the payment of RD$3,000 and RD$4,000 monthly checks out of state funds to PLD ruling party members without authorization or …

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In his 2004 inaugural speech, President Leonel Fernandez warned that his government would not tolerate corruption. However, according to an article in Diario Libre, his administration has been splattered with corruption cases. The article mentions the corruption and waste of the new Supreme Court building, with accusations of links to indicted drug trafficker Quirino Paulino …

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The Department for the Prevention of Administrative Corruption (now DPCA, and formerly known as Depreco) has only managed to prosecute 17 suspected corruption cases out of 202 that have been filed, as reported in Diario Libre. There are, apparently, 92 cases put away in the file drawers of the office. The information was disclosed by …

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President Leonel Fernandez is riding high into the 16 May election, but a Greenberg Quinlan Rosner-Diario Libre poll shows that he does not yet have enough votes to win in the first round. A 50%+1 vote is needed for a first-round victory. If the candidates do not achieve this, a second round is organized and …

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Mark Feierstein, vice president of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner said that the recent Diario Libre survey results indicate that Dominicans still perceive the previous Hipolito Mejia government as more corrupt than the present administration. “The baggage of Hipolito Mejia’s legacy is still too heavy in the PRD,” he said in an interview published in Diario Libre. …

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President Leonel Fernandez headed a distinguished list of people who attended the launch of a new book about former President Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, the dictator and iron-fisted ruler of the Dominican Republic from 1930-1961. The book, called “Trujillo: A Monarch without a Crown” (Trujillo: Monarca sin corona), was written by Euclides Gutierrez Felix and …

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The Round Table of the Commonwealth Countries in the Dominican Republic celebrated this year’s Commonwealth Day at the auditorium of the Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo University (INTEC). The event was attended by professors, students, members, business representatives and friends of the Round Table. Dr Miguel Escala, president of INTEC, Fernando Rainieri, former president of …

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Main poultry production centers are firing more workers as the import ban imposed by Haiti continues to cause losses for local chicken and egg producers. The president of the local producers association, Jose Lopez, told Listin Diario reporter Ricardo Santana that the Haitian embargo on poultry and eggs from the Dominican Republic is having very …

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