Fernandez and scandals

[NewsWhore]

In his 2004 inaugural speech, President Leonel Fernandez warned that his government would not tolerate corruption. However, according to an article in Diario Libre, his administration has been splattered with corruption cases. The article mentions the corruption and waste of the new Supreme Court building, with accusations of links to indicted drug trafficker Quirino Paulino Castillo. Then there was the Artificial Island Case (US$450 million), Enade, a deal to give one firm the right to sell the government's real estate holdings, and a US$132 million deal to equip the National Police via the Sun Land Group. Each of these deals was put aside, although the pundits are suggesting that the US$130 million in IOUs signed by Felix Bautista are some sort of compensation for the National Police deal that fell through. Another scandal was the deal to give a Spanish company, Icasur, the right to issue vehicle inspection stickers for the Public Works Ministry. The list continues with issues in the Ministry of Finance (now the Ministry of the Hacienda) concerning RD$50 million paid to non-existent workers, RD$90 million in diverted pension funds from the Armed Forces, and the forgery of documents for work permits in Spain at the Ministry of Labor (which resulted in just one person going to jail). While the list is even longer and involving tourist areas, the Port Authority, and the Commission to Reform State Enterprises, suffice it to say that the Sun Land case is still the most prominent, since even the International Monetary Fund got involved.

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