Chamber of Accounts under fire

[NewsWhore]

As the Chamber of Accounts members came under hard questioning by a legislative commission, some rather serious situations came to light. According to El Nuevo Diario, the revelations could lead to the dismissal of members of the state auditing body. The crisis came to a head when seven of the auditors accused the chief magistrate of mismanagement. According to one report, the secretary of the Chamber is deaf, and would send his son to take minutes at their meetings. Another case in point was the fact that the chamber members were planning to increase their salaries to RD$550,000 per month (up from RD$400,000), which added to their existing perks would have brought their monthly income to RD$850,000. The Chamber of Accounts was also intending to request a RD$10 million loan to finance their pensions when they finish their term of office. According to the newspaper, Andres Terrero, the chief magistrate of the auditors, had an RD$8 million fund that he could use at his discretion. The deputies are interviewing the auditors in groups of three, and their declarations will be finished after today's session. So far, most of the members interviewed by the Chamber of Deputies' commission have openly admitted that they are subject to a great deal of political pressure when they have to audit any of the government offices.

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