The Dominican Republic recorded the greatest progress in its ability to combat corruption (CCC) and went from tenth place in 2021 to fifth in 2022, according to the fourth measurement of the Council of the Americas (Americas Society / Council of the Americas, for its acronym in English).
The Caribbean country advanced “+0.81” and obtained a score of 5.19 to continue on its “two-year upward trajectory”, indicates the Index of Capacity to Combat the Corruption in 2022.
The same report gives Costa Rica (+0.66) the second place with the greatest progress in its tools to fight this scourge, a nation that is also the second, after Uruguay, to have the best position in the evaluation of 15 countries of the region.
According to him Council of the AmericasDominican Republic improved its global score by 18% since 2021, driven by 24% growth in the legal capacity category and “significant progress in the variables that evaluate international cooperation and anti-corruption agencies.”
These achievements – he indicates – reflect the determination of President Luis Abinader in the fight against corruption since he came to power in 2020. His administration has proposed a law to promote transparency in public contracts, instituted compliance programs in public institutions, and enacted a law to simplify bureaucracy.”
Advances with low budget
Despite highlighting advances in the ability to combat corruptionthe Index of Capacity to Combat Corruption in 2022 highlights at the same time that the Public Ministry, the body that prosecutes illegal executions in public functions, needs “more resources” to fight evil.
In that sense, remember that the attorney general, Miriam Germán Brito, has asked the National Congress for more funds for the Public Ministry.
In the Law of General State Budget for 2021 7,005.6 million pesos were approved for the Attorney General’s Office, which meant a reduction of RD$4,709.4 million in relation to the item for 2020.
The decrease in the budget was equivalent to 40%, according to the complaint of the then Public Ministry, which, for that same year, requested the same amount with which it was handled in 2020: RD$11,715 million. Finally, In the Complementary Budget, the National Congress raised the item to RD$10,568,591,559.91 million in 2021.
The Council of the Americas points out that high-level anti-corruption investigations have continued in the last year, such as Operation Coral and Operation Anti-Octopus. It contends that these investigations “have primarily focused on individuals linked to the previous administration, leading to accusations that these investigations are politically motivated.”
Remember that the Abinader government has also investigated alleged acts of corruption within his own administration, and that the president is one of the political leaders identified “in the Pandora Papers leak of October 2021, which detailed the use of companies in tax havens by political leaders, and He stated that he has always complied with his tax obligations.”
The Dominican Republic registered a significant increase in the variable that evaluates the mobilization of civil society against corruptionindicating that citizens continue to hold the government to account.
As for “critical issues to monitor” in the Dominican Republic, he echoes the possible constitutional reform so that the Attorney General’s Office of the Dominican Republic would be more independent from the Executive Branch.
“Apart from the possible reform, the current attorney general is generally considered as an independent figure,” he cites in this part.
Likewise, it mentions that the President of the Republic has endorsed the domain extinction bill that is known in the National Congress to return stolen goods to the State and assets of illicit origin, which “could be approved before the end of 2022 ”.
The Financial Analysis Unit is carrying out an evaluation of the risk of money laundering at the national level before the next evaluation of the country by the International Financial Action Task Force, concludes the description of the Dominican situation in its fight against corruption.
Score by countries
The country with the highest score in the CCC 2022 Index is Uruguay (7.42 out of 10), which it holds in first place for three consecutive years. Uruguay is followed by Costa Rica (7.11), Chile (6.88), Peru (5.66), these two countries remain in the first three places.
The Dominican Republic (5.19), in fifth place, is followed by Argentina (5.04), Panama (4.96), Colombia (4.87), Ecuador (4.82), Brazil (4.76), Paraguay (4.45), Mexico (4.05), Guatemala (3.38), Bolivia (2.57) and Venezuela (1.63).
The strenghts
The study indicates that the greatest capacity of the Dominican Republic is that of the influence of civil society and the media, above the legal, democracy and political institutions. On the other hand, the countries that occupy the first three places (Uruguay, Costa Rica and Chile), their greatest strengths are their legal capacity, democracy and political institutions.
What is the Americas Society/Council of the Americas?
In his report, he explains that it is the main forum dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas and that its “mission is to foster understanding of the contemporary political, social, and economic issues facing Latin Americathe Caribbean and Canada”.
