Santo Domingo.-In the final report of the Chamber of Accounts that details the details of the audit carried out on the improvement plan for the country’s prisons, the special representatives of former attorney Jean Alain Rodríguez highlighted that he did not have access to the necessary documentation to respond.
According to his lawyers, this prevents him from defending himself on equal terms, so the answers are made under reservation of the right to expand the information sent and do not represent, in any way, acceptance of the foregoing.
The purpose of the audit was to carry out a special investigation of the award procedures, execution, and payments made to the contractors and suppliers of the Penitentiary System Humanization Plan.
with the same address
On the other hand, in the bidding process to hire construction companies, award criteria had to be met, such as that a company under direct or indirect shareholder control of the same economic group could not opt for another service within the plan.
However, this was not fulfilled, benefiting the same partners in different companies, for an amount of RD$109,809,445.
The audit shows that the companies Abastesa and Constructora Integrada had the same president, who appears under the name of José Antonio Santana; with the same members of the Board, but with different positions. Also, they work in the same direction.
Both companies participated in the tender for the construction of new buildings in Correction Centers for a value of RD$20,765,355 and RD$44,490,848.
The same thing happened with the entities Kabul SRL and Consorcio Ebusa, whose businesses had Erick Danny Bueno Tejada as their representative or manager and perform their functions in the same place.
They obtained consulting and supervision contracts for RD$19,654,758 and RD$24,898,484.
The Chamber of Accounts attributes the adjudication of companies belonging to the same partners to an error of the experts.
Payment advances
In accordance with the Purchasing and Contracting Law, the contracting party will proceed to make a first payment corresponding to the advance payment, which will be 20% of the contracted value.
However, paying advances without registering the contracts with the Comptroller General, and without guarantee policies, generates risks of deviations in this type of operation without proper registration.
According to the special report, of RD$3,188,914,828 with which the service was contracted from various providers, advances were granted for RD$617,813,351.
Other details
—1—Incomplete
The CC certified that there were procedures lacking physical files to contract.
—2— Award
Ebusa is also listed in a consortium without state supplier registration.
—3—Presidency
It was verified that Alodia Ángeles, a partner at Espacio y Arquitectura, was an official when 103 million were granted.
