SANTO DOMINGO.- Despite promises of adhering to the late political leader Juan Bosch’s teachings and that all of his party’s companions in government posts would be watched, the term of Leonel Fernandez’s administration in office since 2004 has been plagued by scandals, accusations of corruption, abuse of power and the illegal use of taxpayers’ money, the newspaper Diario Libre says.

Fernandez himself in his inaugural speech of August, 16, 2004, said he wouldn’t allow his administration to became a standard-bearer of the practice "erase-and-start a-new."

"We will take the pertinent actions, as the Inter-American Convention against Corruption establishes, to prevent, detect, prosecute and punish all acts of corruption which jeopardize the public patrimony," Fernandez said after taking the oath.

However, the measures taken agaisnt corruption have been timid, which have affected the government’s image and several of its officials. Cases including the decoration, construction and furnishing of the Supreme Court building have placed governmental transparency in doubt as even the name of drug-trafficking suspect Quirino Paulino came up in the scandal.

Diario Libre also says in the case of the contract to build the artificial island, at a cost of US$450 million, was passed under the table alleging that the President’s signature was forged. No charges were filed and no one was fired in that case.

The Executive Branch was also questioned for the contract with the company Enade, granted without Congressional approval, and the US$132 million loan for equipment for the National Police through The Sun Land Group, discarded after the public outcry.

Diario Libre also mentions the contract to issue inspection stickers for motor vehicles between the Public Works Ministry and the Spanish company Icasur, whose extension was attempted despite being terminated in 2005.

Other scandals

Another scandal was the ring detected in the Finance Ministry which embezzled more than RD$50 million through a forged payroll of retired people, and the illegal use of RD$90 million, to pay Armed Forces and the National Police pensioners, as well as the forging of documents in the Public  Works Ministry to facilitate trips to Spain and Canada, whose accused is now in the jail  at Najayo.

There’s also the fraud for RD$25 million detected in the Port Authority and the irregular handling of RD$72 million in the State Company Reform Commission, where it was determined that RD$27 million lacked support documents.

The list includes the contract for use of a protected area near Bayahíbe (east) signed by the Tourism Ministry, corruption detected in the ONAP, and the contract between the State Works Supervisory Office, and the company, Sun Land, which even led the International Monetary Fund to request information on the financial operation of US$130 million for the alleged construction of so-called priority works.