NewsWhore
07-21-2006, 03:12 PM
The government's economic team has agreed to ask President Leonel Fernandez to annul the US$132.4 million loan contract for the police department, an agreement they classified as "burdensome". The contract was rushed through the PRD-majority Congress, most of which will no longer be at their jobs as of 16 August.
The loan has the guarantee of the US government export financing agency, EXIMBANK. As reported in Diario Libre, on 16 March, President Fernandez sent the president of US Eximbank a letter giving his approval to the loan.
Speaking for the economic team of the government, Presidential Technical Minister Temistocles Montas explained that a mistake was made in this loan contract that must now be corrected. The contract for the purchase of the equipment was signed by Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa and Interior & Police Minister Franklin Almeyda.
But now Montas states that the economic team will be recommending to the President that an international public tender be held for equipping the police.
Civic group Participacion Ciudadana is drawing the attention of the Department against Corruption in Government (Depreco) to the terms of the contract. It is important to note that even if the contract is not disbursed, the country is liable to pay the commission and fees once it is approved. President Leonel Fernandez still needs to approve the contract that passed in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate without it even being sent to a commission for scrutiny, which would have been normal procedure.
"The simple reading and analysis of this contract reveals irregularities that cannot be ignored by anyone who is concerned with the putting to good use of government resources and the establishment of honest and transparent government practices," states the organization. Among the irregularities, Participacion Ciudadana points to excessively high overvaluations of equipment and vehicles. Participacion Ciudadana expressed concern that the Senate had approved this contract in such a rush and without asking any questions, saying that the contract could end up becoming known as one of the most damaging and lacking in transparency ever signed in the country, "even when compared to some that are being heard in the justice," states the civic society group.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)
The loan has the guarantee of the US government export financing agency, EXIMBANK. As reported in Diario Libre, on 16 March, President Fernandez sent the president of US Eximbank a letter giving his approval to the loan.
Speaking for the economic team of the government, Presidential Technical Minister Temistocles Montas explained that a mistake was made in this loan contract that must now be corrected. The contract for the purchase of the equipment was signed by Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa and Interior & Police Minister Franklin Almeyda.
But now Montas states that the economic team will be recommending to the President that an international public tender be held for equipping the police.
Civic group Participacion Ciudadana is drawing the attention of the Department against Corruption in Government (Depreco) to the terms of the contract. It is important to note that even if the contract is not disbursed, the country is liable to pay the commission and fees once it is approved. President Leonel Fernandez still needs to approve the contract that passed in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate without it even being sent to a commission for scrutiny, which would have been normal procedure.
"The simple reading and analysis of this contract reveals irregularities that cannot be ignored by anyone who is concerned with the putting to good use of government resources and the establishment of honest and transparent government practices," states the organization. Among the irregularities, Participacion Ciudadana points to excessively high overvaluations of equipment and vehicles. Participacion Ciudadana expressed concern that the Senate had approved this contract in such a rush and without asking any questions, saying that the contract could end up becoming known as one of the most damaging and lacking in transparency ever signed in the country, "even when compared to some that are being heard in the justice," states the civic society group.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)