SANTO DOMINGO.- President Leonel Fernandez said other elements enter into the fight against corruption, which don’t necessarily have to do with the true commitment against it, and instead with political projects in an effort to discredit the adversary, which he said isn’t exclusive to the Dominican Republic.

He said the Government works to bolster new measures including audits to prevent fraudulent acts and guarantee transparency and controls in each agency, to be expanded to the rest of the departments.

The chief executive said the country has advanced greatly in the materialization of open bidding in all entities. “You barely hear talk that the institutions don’t assign contracts directly, because almost 95% of them has been obtained in open bidding as the law stipulates, regarding the purchase of goods and services on the part of the State.”

Interviewed by the network CDN during his visit to Israel and Egypt, the Head of State said the country works with the United Nations Program for Development and the World Bank, to increase Dominican Republic’s levels of efficiency and responsibility at international level. “They are also participating with us in the identification of new programs and initiatives that reinforce the scope of prevention.”

Fernandez said that advancing in those areas would lead to the eradication of corruption or at least mitigate it significantly, and to sanction it wherever there’s irrefutable evidence that in fact there’s been a fraudulent intent to defraud the State.