Dominican Republic.- National young business leaders association (ANJE) president Biviana Riveiro warned Thursday the dominance over state powers by a single party is "dangerous" and weakens institutions’ roles on corruption and promotes the "vicious cycle" of impunity.
"We now see that the highest concentrations of power falls on just one party and that’s a cycle that could be quite dangerous … sometimes the legislature doesn’t dare legislate as it should, because it has political commitments; The judiciary also has political commitments, and the Executive Branch somehow dictates policy," Riveiro said.
She said the country needs a system of consequences capable of responding to society’s growing demands to effectively punish corruption, "because otherwise we will not break the circle of impunity that prevails in our country."
In this regard the business leader recalled "the huge fiscal deficit" -estimated at over RD$180 billion-which the current government inherited from Leonel Fernández’s administration (2008-2012) and led to the 2012 tax reform.
That reform "was the result of misuse of state funds in ways perhaps disproportionate," the ANJE president said. "And what happened? Nothing happened, but our country has yet to have a Fiscal Responsibility Law."
"Recent cases have been or are perceived as having permeated politics into justice which tends to undermine the institutions’ confidence in the judiciary,” Riveiro said in a seminar on corruption hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAMRD).
"We must work toward a non-politicized justice," Riveiro said. "I’d like leave with a reflection that absolute power corrupts, and corrupts absolutely everything."