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NewsWhore
07-01-2009, 04:30 PM
State-run Electricity Companies (CDEEE) vice president Radhames Segura says that recent accusations of corruption and nepotism are just part of a defamation campaign by interested parties and downplayed the gravity of the situation.
He says the "interested parties" are seeking to exert pressure so that the state sells its energy companies at cheap prices.
He downplayed the revelations that 43 members of his family are employed by the CDEEE, which employs a total of 8,000, saying it was not a big deal.
Responding to the critics, Segura remarked, "So people who need a job and do their job, because they are relatives, can't work in that institution?" He added that there was no law against hiring family members.
In an investigative report on the bloated payroll at the CDEEE broadcast over the weekend, TV journalist Nuria Piera revealed that the payroll had gone from RD$84 million in 2004 to RD$480 million now.
Que Se Dice column on page 2 of Hoy also asks today why the CDEEE needs 34 waiters on its payroll. It also questions why the government electricity body needs to donate large sums of money to churches, and foundations, included that of President Leonel Fernandez. The column goes on to question the payments made by the CDEEE to opposition politicians and the fact that journalists who claim to be independent are on the CDEEE payroll. Claudio Acosta, writer of the column, announces that a second report on the CDEEE is forthcoming for this coming Saturday.
Acosta also writes about the contradictions between all the events commemorating the centenary of the birth of the late founder of the ruling PLD party Juan Bosch, which highlight his honesty and integrity, and the findings of the Nuria Piera investigations.

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