Dominican watchdog asks why doesn’t Medina can corrupt officials

Santo Domingo.- One of Dominican Republic’s most prominent watchdog organizations on Wednesday called regretful that Congress failed to establish legal safeguards in the new Penal Code, to fight government corruption.

The Dominican Alliance Against Corruption (ADOCCO) said it’s regretful that legislators enact a law several years in the making, without society’s input and “submitted and dismantled into virtually nothing.”

ADOCCO director Julio Cesar de la Rosa said although the new Penal Code is a modern instrument which in his view is adapted to deal with modern, serious crimes, it didn’t establish severe punishment for corrupt officials.

Interviewed on Santo Domingo TV channels 24 and 69, the

ADOCCO director added that he doe not understand “president Danilo Medina’s failure to act against officials who violate the law with their financial statement,” many of whom failed to meet the Accounts Chamber’s deadline to submit the document.