|
The Institute for Ethics and Economic
Policy (IEEP) |
|
||
|
president’s
security chief detained in corruption scandal . Authorities have
detained Dominican Armed Forces Col. Pedro Julio Goico as part of an
investigation into credit card fraud, the Defence Minister said. Goico, who
was detained, has not been charged, but he has been suspended from his duties
as head of presidential security and chief of security for next week’s
Ibero-American summit hosting 23 heads of state, said Defence Minister Gen.
Miguel Soto Jimenez. Goico’s credit card was used to embezzle the money, he
said. The credit card was allegedly used for purchases that were either
fictitious or returned to obtain cash, officials said (Yahoo News (AP), FORMER LEADER IMPLICATED IN CORRUPTION Several former officials in the
administration of President Leonel Fernandez (1996-2000) have been arrested
in connection with corruption charges including contract kickbacks,
embezzlement, and exorbitant pensions for outgoing officials. Although the Attorney General’s office has
decided not to indict the former President, the Corruption Prevention
Department believes the Minimum Employment Program (PEME) raised funds
improperly, disbursed without accounting, and was looted of over $100 million
under his administration. Fernandez
is accused by political opponents of vote-buying with some of the funds and
disbursements to phantom employees to line official pockets. The investigation has boosted his standing
within the Dominican Liberation Party.
(Latinamerica Press,
EX-PRESIDENT VINDICATED OF CORRUPTION A conviction of corruption against
Salvador Jorge Blanco, President, for embezzling millions of dollars of state
funds from 1982 to 1986 has been overturned by an appeals court. He was sentenced to a term of twenty
years, although he always denied the charges and claimed his nightmare was
the result of political persecution by Joaquin Balaguer, his successor. (BBC News,
LAND SALE CORRUPTION SCANDAL ERUPTS The Attorney General’s office has requested Victor Tio, administrator of public property, respond to a scandal which involves the sale of 4 square kilometers of state property at a ridiculously low price. Tio claims his signature was falsified on the formalised sale registers; the state land was sold for $1,000 and subsequently resold by the unnamed entrepreneur for $178,000. (MISNA News, Mar. 29, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
PRESIDENT’S
PLEDGE TO FIGHT DRUGS President
Hipolito Mejia, together with Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, have
recently committed to sharing information on drug traffickers and have also
pledged their support to other Latin American countries in efforts to detect
and eradicate corruption. President
Chavez rewrote the Constitution and replaced the Congress and the Supreme
Court through elections and referendums since assuming the presidency in
1998. (Yahoo News, Mar. 10, 2001,
summary by Marg Reynolds). Credit
for Dominican Republic to Modernize Congress and the Office of the
Comptroller General The
IDB announced on July 19, 2000 the approval of a $22.3 million loan to the
Dominican Republic to strengthen democratic governance through the
modernization of the operations of the National Congress and the Office of
the Comptroller General. The total cost of the program, to be carried out by
the Bicameral Commission on Congressional Modernization is $28 million. Local
counterpart funds total $5.7 million. The program is designed to produce
major improvements in efficiency, capacity for monitoring the operations of
the executive branch of government, transparency and representative functions.
One of the objectives of the National Congress subprogram will be improving
legislative capacities by means of a new Legislative Advisory Office, which
will be in charge of a new system to hiring experts to assist the standing
commissions in research, analysis and enactment of legislation. Another
specific objective is to enhance the efficiency of this office’s oversight
functions by means of a Budgetary and Macroeconomic Evaluation and Monitoring
Unit, which will have a system for identifying, selecting, and hiring experts
to advise the Audit and Finance Standing Commissions of both Chambers of
Congress. The credit will also fund the expansion and improvement of
infrastructure and the installation of modern information technology and
administrative systems in the National Congress. Public hearings and public
participation and access to information will be enhanced, and personnel
management will be strengthened. As of the Comptroller General’s Office
component, the loan will serve to draft a new legal framework for this
entity. In addition, a strategic plan will be drawn up to strengthen and
modernize the office, and training and technical assistance will be financed
to build an effective national fiscal audit system. The IDB loan is for a
25-year term, with a three-year grace period, at the variable annual interest
rate, now 6.77%. Part of the interest will be defrayed by the Intermediate
Financing Facility. (www.respondaenet.com/english, issue 24 of the US AID
Newsletter)
SANTO DOMINGO, Conviction Overturned For Former Dominican President. The attorney general has been ordered to drop a corruption case against former President Salvador Jorge Blanco. In 1991, Blanco was charged with misappropriation of government funds during his 1982-86 term as president. He was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison and fined a total of $8 million in restitution. Blanco served only 2 months of his sentence before he was granted amnesty, and has been awaiting a hearing in his appeal since. (CNN.com, Sept. 1, 2000, summary by Michelle Little). Dominican Police Arrest Seven in Political Killings (See item 7, May 2, 2000, Business and Finance – Europe, Dow Jones Newswires). Moca, 85 miles (135 kilometers) from Santo Domingo, the capital, Mr. Mejia is a left-leaning politician who has threatened, if he wins, to prosecute leading members of the government for alleged corruption. ( Business and Finance - Asia WSJ, May 2, 2000). SANTO
DOMINGO -Dominicans Fight Trademark Piracy- Pirated videos dance
across TV screens. Stores openly sell clothes falsely labeled Tommy Hilfiger,
Polo, and pseudo-designers like
``Colvin'' Klein. Experts say four in five computer software packages
are pirated. (AP, July 17, 2000. Summary by L. Mcpherson) Mr. Mejia, who was elected in May, takes office amid growing
public discontent over frequent power cuts in the recently privatized
electricity sector. BBC, August 16, 2000 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas The Index of Economic Freedom (by Driscoll-Holmes-Kirkpatrick) for 2001 places Dominican Republic in the “Mostly Free” category with a rank of 60 (Ranks range from 1 for Hong Kong to 155 for North Korea, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1, 2000). H. D. Vinod’s trimmed correlation analysis indicates that countries free from economic regulation are less corrupt. After allowing for some exceptions by 20% trimming, the correlation is near 0.9. |
|
||
|
Design:
Theo den Brinker |
Copyright:
Hrishikesh D. Vinod 2000 |
Last
Updated: |
|
