NewsWhore
10-18-2006, 03:20 PM
In just the first nine months of 2006, government investigators estimate that the sale of false birth certificates, as well as other documents, netted about RD$500 million. The documents were sold to Haitians, drug traffickers, international criminals, baseball players and Cuban citizens. Researchers have established, according to Diario Libre, that the most common cases were those associated with the sale of false birth certificates to Haitians seeking Dominican documentation in order to avoid repatriation. These were sold for between RD$3,000 and RD$5,000 each. Next came Cubans seeking to establish Dominican citizenship in order to immigrate, and then baseball players who need a birth certificate that reduces their age by several years in order to get a better signing bonus. (Readers may well remember the case of Danny Almonte or know of Julio Franco of the NY Mets, officially 46, but some say over 50.) Baseball players or their agents regularly pay between RD$20,000 and RD$50,000 for a well-forged birth certificate. The criminal element will pay as much as RD$200,000 for a false document that will allow them to change identities. Investigators from the Central Electoral Board (JCE) are concentrating on the Civil Registry Offices of Santo Domingo and the provinces along the Haitian frontier. Several cities around the country have seen the inspectors at work, including Santiago, Moca, Barahona and San Francisco de Macoris.
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