A report reported irregularities in it maintenance of the school schools during 2022 to 2024, which generated a deficit of more than 4.5 billion pesos to Ministry of Educationdirected at that time by Ángel Hernándezwho complained to the Comptroller for the lack of information to be able to take measures against those responsible.
The document, dated in February 2025, presents a chronological breakdown of the disbursements made per year, multiple Violations of the Purchasing and Hiring Lawand an accumulation of debts attributed to the management of the General Directorate of Maintenance of School infrastructure (DGMIE).
The DGMIE was headed by Fernando Hiram Taveraswho in March 2025 was appointed Vice Minister of Road Maintenance of the Ministry of Public Works through Decree 109-25, signed by President Luis Abinader.
According to the report, for the fifth day of maintenance Corrective were transferred, in 2022, some 3,400 million pesoswhile, for the sixth, in 2023, they were disbursed 3,000 million pesos.
However, accumulated mismanagement generated a deficit of 4,588 million pesos in May 2024. The total investment in the centers was 10,988 million pesos.
The document comes to public light three days after current minister of education, Luis Miguel de Camps, will request To the Comptroller General of the Republic a team to audit the programs of maintenance Correctives during the previous years.
Chronology
It all started in May 2024, in San Cristóbal, where, after a Approach of an engineer To claim for the payments of an educational district, the head of the Minerd requested clarifications to the DGMIE, as well as an analysis to the financial management and a Special audit carried out by the Directorate of Supervisory, according to the report.
He First financial analysis revealed that they had already processed payments for 6,953.5 million pesos. To this were added files in payment for 661 million pesos, raising the deficit at 1,214.5 million pesos.
In addition, they identified themselves Budgets in elaboration for 1,188.6 million pesos and 463 educational centers with works in executionwhose estimated cost amounted to 1,790.8 million pesos. Together, the deficit Total projected reached 4,193.9 million pesos.
The Causes of imbalanceaccording to the report, were: executed works without respecting the initially established amounts and lack of budgetary planning in advance.
In addition, the DGMIE assumed control of workshe chose his own contractors and divided the works to adjust the amounts to the threshold allowed for decentralized just, violating Law 340-06 and resolution 02-2019, which grants autonomy to the decentralized joints in the management of funds.
In his defensethe DGMIE attributed the ruling to the autonomy that the decentralized boards have in the administration of the budget, which was contradictory to the findings of the audit.
Meanwhile, the Special audit Made by the Supervisory Directorate, on May 22, 2024, it uncovered more allegedly irregularities: deviation of funds and administrative deficiencydue to the lack of coordination between that agency, the Vice Ministry of Decentralization and the Districts.
They were also detected electrical installations and incomplete healthlow quality of materials, Lack of supervision —As that DGMIE did not guarantee compliance with quality standards – employees of the MINERD acting as contractors and unfinished works.
The report indicates that, on June 7, 2024, another began audit by the Comptroller General of the Republic to the corrective maintenance made between January 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024.
The first report of that expertise, focused on regional cotuí, was presented on August 12. In the same the anomalies in the DGMIE.
But, dissatisfied, the head of the Minerd He requested more details, in which the work not executed, the responsible contractors and the documents that validate the failures are shown, in order to apply the corrective measures.
“The report confirmed irregularitiesbut without sufficient information so that MINERD I could make informed decisions and apply sanctions, “says the report.
On October 15, 2024, the Comptroller presented the definitive reportin which he certified, again, the infractionsbut the MINERD He insisted that Evaluation should reveal To the responsible officials, despite the fact that, in the relationship of the installation of mobile classrooms, payments for 112.5 million pesos were verified.
In that sense, education instructed a internal control process In centers with accounts payablewhose pending debts Rondaban, as of December 2024, about 2,594 million pesos.
Later, that amount was paid in two phases: a advance of 40 and 60 % When they were verified that the work on the schools were complete.
Additional amounts transferred ascend to 3,482 million pesos, a First game of 887.7 million in August, and Two games In December of 2,415.9 million and 178 million pesos, which, added to the initial 6.4 billion, show a total transferred of 9,882 million pesos.
As of February 2025, 1,923 payments had been made as a 40 %progress. Of those 947 were confirmed as delivered. In addition, 60 % of 131 centers were completed, after the Verification Department validated its compliance.
And, for February 17, a week before Hernández to be replaced by Camps as Minister of Education, there were accounts payable for 1,106 million pesos, corresponding to new processed files by the Infrastructure Directorate, whose funds had not been transferred to the educational districts.
