Contrary to Senate of the Republicwhere in its 32 seats there are legislators with important fortunes, in the Chamber of Deputies he heritage abundant is not a general trend.
According to 157 of the most recent statements sworn of heritage published until last Friday Chamber of Accountsthere are at least eight of the deputies re-elected, new and outgoing with more than 100 million of pesos in heritage net, more than 80 are between one million and 20 millionsome five have less than a million and another seven have a balance negative.
Among the statements analyzed by Free Diarypresented by these officials who are required by law to do so and published since last August by the Chamber of Accounts On its Ojo Ciudadano portal, the re-elected candidate stands out deputy PLD member Juan Carlos EchavarrÃa Milané, a merchant who represents the Santo Domingo province.
According to his statement presented on September 13, at 53 years old his assets add up to 430.4 million of pesos, comprising 50% of its corporate participation and/or capital invested in companiessuch as the Joselito Banking Consortium and another named in the document as IR1, in which it invested 212.9 million of pesos.
In 2022, the journalistic program El Report with Alicia Ortega reported that the deputy was one of five legislators linked to the gambling business who would have stopped paying 159 million of pesos to the treasury in 2021 for illegal lottery banks. In the case of EchavarrÃa Milané, it was estimated at 19.7 million. Of its 462 establishments at the time, 66% were unregulated, according to the report.
The legislator is part of the commissions permanent of Contracts, Defense and Housing, Habitat and Buildings of the Chamber of Deputies.
As to heritage in estate HE stand out the reelected deputy perremeista Nicolás Hidalgo Almánzar, from the Duarte province. At 66 years old, this lawyer reported that 96% of his 243.4 million of pesos in assets corresponds to estate.
Also, there is the administrator of companies and former mayor of Cabrera, Jorge Hugo Cavoli. The perremeist, re-elected deputy by MarÃa Trinidad Sánchez, reports that 82% of its 253.1 million of pesos in assets it is in estateas published.
Women with good heritage
Generally, it is men who top the lists of the most senior officials. heritage. However, in the House of Deputies The legislator Eduviges MarÃa (Leyvi) Bautista Gomera stands out. Originally from Batey Palavé, at 38 years old she reports a heritage net for 137.3 million of pesos, highlighting a residence valued at 37.9 million.
Dellys Dumidia Féliz RodrÃguez also stands out, a perremeÃsta who was director of Financial Analysis of the General Comptroller’s Office of the Republic and financial and administrative director of the National Needle Industry (Inaguja). At 66 years old, of his 118.4 million of pesos in assets93% corresponds to estateincluding two farms approaching 30 million of pesos each, one being acquired by donation, according to his sworn statement published.
Heritage in negative
Contrary to the wealth bonanza in a group of its counterparts, among the deputies who represent Santiago, Santo Domingo, Azua, La Vega, Santiago and the National District, there are those who Chamber of Accounts publishes a heritage net in negative.
The case of deputy Carlos Sánchez Quezada, re-elected for the National District. According to his assets summary presented on September 17, at 53 years old he had liabilities amounting to 69.2 on that date. million of pesos, corresponding to loans in pesos and dollars, so its heritage net had a balance of -22 million of pesos, according to the published document.
In his previous statement, published In 2020, liabilities were barely recorded for 8.1 million of pesos.
Other deputy with a heritage net in negative The reelected by La Vega, Rogelio Alfonso Genao Lanza, from -3 million of pesos. At 35 years old, the young legislator accumulates a liability of 5.9 million of pesos, 96% for loans.
The relevance of the statements sworn
Declaring the assets of officials is a mandate constitutionalenshrined in article 146 of the Magna Carta, which seeks to condemn all forms of corruption in the State. This establishes that it is mandatory for public officials to prove the origin of their assets, before and after completing their duties or at the request of the competent authority.
10 years ago, when the law establishing the National Authorized and Uniform System of Sworn Declarations of Assets of Officials and Public Servants was promulgated, the Executive Branch and the legislators With this they sought “the institutionalization of mechanisms for access to public information and accountability that make the management of the administration transparent.”
They considered that this “leads to the eradication of administrative corruption that causes serious damage to democracy, governability and the national economy.”
On Thursday of last week, the senator for Santiago RodrÃguez, Antonio Marte, took a turn in the hemicycle session to complain about the public nature of the statements sworn.
The ex-convict for defrauding the State argued that disclosing the fortunes contained in said statementsas he has done Free Diarymay harm the personal safety of the declarants and their relatives. Consequently, he advocated for this documentation to be hidden and only handled in situations of mistrust.
According to the law, the non-confidential section of the declaration of assets of each official will be published for the Chamber of Accounts on its website, as well as in any other format it considers appropriate, said web publications being those analyzed by Free Diary for this story and two other previous installments, forming part of the exercise of public transparency that the law itself and the Constitution uphold.
Although it was requested, until yesterday the Chamber of Accounts had not officially reported how many officials did or did not present their sworn statements in this period, after concluding the legal period and the extensions given, despite the fact that it issued regular cuts at the beginning of the process. Those analyzed by this means are those published until Friday by said institution.
