Official about to get canned reveals Medina’s political bargains

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Social Security Institute (IDSS) director César Mella on Mon. said when he assumed the post he was approached “by many businessmen” with offers of contracts for medicine and pharmaceuticals, which he affirms weren’t lawful.

His statement comes amid a request by his political boss, foreign minister Miguel Vargas, for him to step aside, to allow “other PRD party companions to occupy it.”

“Only president Danilo Medina can remove me,” was Mella’s response to a missive from Vargas, who said the political organization will assign one of its members to that post. “Miguel Vargas is a businessman and I am a practicing doctor who has done very well for myself in the last 30 years in the profession. What I also want to raise is that the President decides.””

“At the beginning of my administration many businessmen went to my office to offer the sale of medicines without complying with the purchase procedures,” Mella said.