martes, 30 de junio de 2020

Presidential candidate for Dominican Republic’s ruling party mired in corruption allegations | Opinion |

Presidential candidate for Dominican Republic’s ruling party mired in corruption allegations | Opinion

BY RAMON COLLADO
 
Presidential candidate Gonzalo Castillo has yet to explain how his net worth soared while he was the Dominican Republic’s minister of public works.
In October 2019, Gonzalo Castillo became the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) presidential nominee in the Dominican Republic election, which was scheduled for July 2020. Highly regarded by the Dominican Republic’s President Danilo Medina, Castillo was worth approximately $2.5 million before Medina appointed him public works minister in August 2012. By the time Castillo left this role last August, his net worth had reportedly rocketed to more than $13 million.
Castillo’s financial bonanza is frequently associated to scandal-plagued Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction conglomerate known for bribing government officials in exchange for public-works contracts. As minister, it has been reported that Castillo signed six amendments to Odebrecht contracts to benefit the construction behemoth. Odebrecht’s profits shot up hundreds of millions of dollars because of these amendments.
Castillo’s influence appears to override the Dominican constitution, which prohibits ministers from engaging in activities that could lead to conflicts of interest. For instance, Castillo’s aviation company, Helidosa, is believed to have profited tremendously from government contracts, violating the Dominican constitution. While Castillo was minister, Helidosa’s assets increased by 1,277 percent and its fleet from 12 aircraft to 36.
But the goose that lays the golden eggs for Castillo is Aeroambulancia, a subsidiary of Helidosa that provides hospital trips by air. Economist José Rijo Presbot explains that, in a monopolistic maneuver to benefit Castillo, the PLD tasks government institutions with enrolling their employees and vehicles in Aeroambulancia services via health- and car-insurance policies. Policy holders are then charged a monthly fee, which results in millions of dollars in annual revenue for Helidosa.
High-profile political figures have referred to Castillo as “corrupt” and have demanded that he explain the origins of his wealth. Unsurprisingly, the presidential hopeful has struggled to explain how he amassed his fortune.
President Medina, Castillo and other high-ranking PLD members have been running the Dominican Republic like a mafia-type of organization. With the PLD’s green light, Castillo allegedly approved contracts of asphalt concrete for more than $200 million in 2019 without soliciting bids from other companies, flouting the Dominican Republic’s Law on Public Procurement and Contracting. Later that year, Castillo publicly admitted that he had approved contracts that could land him in prison.
“Based on his long list of alleged corrupt acts, Castillo should be in prison,” argues political commentator Marino Zapete. However, the probabilities of a criminal indictment against Castillo are extremely low. A recent study revealed that, as far as Latin America is concerned, only Venezuela and Bolivia are less effective than the Dominican Republic in fighting corruption. This study reflects the Dominican Republic’s discredited criminal justice system, which is virtually controlled by Medina and the PLD. No high-ranking PLD member has been sentenced to prison since the party rose to power in 2004, despite several corruption scandals.
Presidential candidate Guillermo Moreno, of Alianza País, political analysts Domingo Páez, Ramón Núñez Ramírez, Andrés L. Mateo and Juan Bolívar Díaz and Sin Maquillaje political commentator Altagracia Salazar explain that impunity, systemic corruption and abuse of power have become part of the Dominican Republic’s domestic policy. Anticorruption organization Transparency International ranks the nation among the most corrupt in the world, while dictatorial maneuvers against the media and the opposition, undermining democracy and the rule of law, continue to rise. Additionally, the PLD has sunk the Dominican Republic into an alarming financial hole — public debt accounts for more than 50 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Dominicans must be pragmatic when casting their ballots in the July 2020 election. If the PLD wins this election, corruption and impunity will continue to devastate Dominican communities, reaching levels this country may never recover from.
Collado is a political analyst and alumnus of the NYU Center for Global Affairs.
https://amp.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article243882047.html



Publicadas por a la/s

No hay comentarios.:

Publicar un comentario

Suscribirse a: Comentarios de la entrada (Atom)