¿Latinoamérica será siempre Latinoamérica?
SANTO DOMINGO - Less than a week after his inauguration, President Leonel Fernandez has given top posts to four former officials charged with involvement in the disappearance of millions of dollars in public funds in the late 1990s.
Critics say the appointments contradict a key campaign promise to crack down on corruption as the Dominican Republic weathers its worst economic crisis in decades.
Fernandez
All four served in the first Fernandez administration from 1996 to 2000, and all have trials pending on charges stemming from the alleged disappearance of US$100 million from the Temporary and Minimal Employment Program, a fund intended to create jobs and quell strikes.
The program's ex-coordinator, Luis Inchausti, was charged with embezzlement three years ago, and this week was named to the Cabinet post secretary of state without portfolio, traditionally a top presidential adviser.
"This is a bad start,'' Pedro Catrain, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, said Thursday. îîEven if it turns out they are innocent, ethically Fernandez shouldn't have named them.''
The scandal broke in 1998 after an audit by the government Department for the Prevention of Corruption. Inchausti and three others were arrested in 2001. Prosecutors said those other three were in positions to have known the money was taken and were negligent in not reporting it.
They include ex-public works secretary Diandino Pena, now appointed to head a subway construction project; former administrative secretary Simon Lizardo, now the nation's top auditor; and former auditor Haivanjoe Ng Cortina, who will regulate the Santo Domingo Stock Exchange.
Those three are charged with negligence, and like Inchausti, all say they are innocent. They are free pending trials that have yet to be scheduled.
Corruption is a chronic problem in the Caribbean nation of 8.8 million people. A bank fraud scandal in 2003 cost the treasury US$2.2 billion and sent the economy into a tailspin.
Critics say the appointments contradict a key campaign promise to crack down on corruption as the Dominican Republic weathers its worst economic crisis in decades.
Fernandez
All four served in the first Fernandez administration from 1996 to 2000, and all have trials pending on charges stemming from the alleged disappearance of US$100 million from the Temporary and Minimal Employment Program, a fund intended to create jobs and quell strikes.
The program's ex-coordinator, Luis Inchausti, was charged with embezzlement three years ago, and this week was named to the Cabinet post secretary of state without portfolio, traditionally a top presidential adviser.
"This is a bad start,'' Pedro Catrain, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, said Thursday. îîEven if it turns out they are innocent, ethically Fernandez shouldn't have named them.''
The scandal broke in 1998 after an audit by the government Department for the Prevention of Corruption. Inchausti and three others were arrested in 2001. Prosecutors said those other three were in positions to have known the money was taken and were negligent in not reporting it.
They include ex-public works secretary Diandino Pena, now appointed to head a subway construction project; former administrative secretary Simon Lizardo, now the nation's top auditor; and former auditor Haivanjoe Ng Cortina, who will regulate the Santo Domingo Stock Exchange.
Those three are charged with negligence, and like Inchausti, all say they are innocent. They are free pending trials that have yet to be scheduled.
Corruption is a chronic problem in the Caribbean nation of 8.8 million people. A bank fraud scandal in 2003 cost the treasury US$2.2 billion and sent the economy into a tailspin.
AP
posted by Rui at 10:40 da manhã
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