The Secretary of Municipal Affairs of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Francis Jorge, warned today that eliminating criminal sanctions on mayors for violations of budget distribution could give “open field” to municipal authorities to manage resources as they wish.
Jorge referred to the bill approved by the Senate last Thursday, which modifies article 21 of the Municipal Law, and removes criminal sanctions from mayors, if it is proven that there are violations in the distribution of the budget.
“As for politics, if the criminal sanction is already there, why remove it now? If you are not going to steal, you do not have to be afraid of having the criminal sanction removed, because you are not going to steal or violate the distribution,” he declared.
“If you add to that that they now want to modify the distribution of the budget, what is understood is that what they (the Government) want is an open field to appoint as they please and increase the payroll,” explained the specialist.
Modification
On the other hand, Francis Jorge clarified that, in legal terms, if a mayor violates the economic distribution, because he does not fully execute what was assigned, merits an administrative sanction, not a criminal one.
“This discussion has been had in the unions and what was understood was an exaggeration by the legislator to impose criminal sanctions,” he explained.
However, he recalled that recently there was a ruling by the Constitutional Court that takes away all the functions of the councilors regarding the approval of land use.
The municipality expert warned that these reforms indicate that the Modern Revolutionary Party is preparing for the 2028 elections, in which they could manage the municipal budget as they wish and without criminal sanctions.
