In May 2006, the then director of the Office of Supervising Engineers of State Works, Félix Bautista, signed the agreement with The Sunland Corporation that indebted the Dominican State for US$130,000,000 without going through the National Congress, with 19 promissory notes issued in favor of the company.
This constituted one of the biggest scandals in the history of our country and generated not only rejection by the population but also legal actions led by civil society organizations and opposition parties.
One of these actions was an appeal of unconstitutionality before the Supreme Court of Justice, which in 2008 declared it inadmissible due to absurd formal arguments.
The paradox is that despite the controversial decision, the same court recognized the irregularity of the issue when in the body of the sentence it states that “certainly the president was under the unavoidable obligation to submit the contested act to the sanction of the National Congress.”
Five years later, Jorge Subero Isa, who was presiding over the court on that date, offered statements affirming that it was “an eminently political case that was given a political solution” and that the plenary session of the Supreme Court received pressure. “I have always said that the Sunland case was a black crepe on the judges’ robes. I still believe that it was not a good sentence,” said the former magistrate.
To refresh your memory, the supposed objective of the agreement with Sunland was the construction of works for the State, most of them within the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD). According to the contract, the works (awarded without public bidding) had to be delivered no later than twelve months after the start of the works.
Although the original document establishes the obligation to build eleven works, the amount was reduced to five with the same cost, through a modification made in December 2006. It establishes the obligation to build the works and equip them at a cost of US$111,986,906 and another item of US$18,013,094 is included for legal and banking expenses, among others.
The Government and Sunland signed an annex on October 25, 2007 to the contract, indicating that the private company must deliver the works “completely finished and the equipment and services to be supplied and installed in full operation no later than July 15, 2008 ”.
Today, November 10, 2022, the simple inspection shows that not all the works were finished.
The entrance throwback thursday was first published in The Caribbean Newspaper.
