Salisbury Constituency MP Hector John, CCM executive member John Blanchard, and DFP interim leader Bernard Hurtault have taken a swipe at PM Roosevelt Skerrit for the way he is managing the Dominican economy.
According to Hector John, the Skerrit-led administration has engaged in financial misappropriation long enough and must be checked to save the economy. He alleged that the government is not financially transparent, and it must be quizzed for the misuse of state funds.
The Salisbury MP gave an instance where the government used state funds to hire foreign lawyers to prosecute members of the opposition – a display of high-level injustice agains the Dominican peoples. He said the government must be reined in to forestall a total breakdown of law and order in the country.
CCM executive member John Blanchard supports the stance of Hector John on the state misuse of public money, saying there is no way the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) could be truly independent if they are still controlled by the DLP government. He said the FIU must be completely independent and autonomous so that they can prosecute cabinet officials and members of parliament who commited financial crimes in the country.
Although National Security Minister Rayburn Blackmoore revealed recently that the FIU has been investigating and prosecuting several cases of financial corruption and money laundering, Blanchard said this assertion cannot be trusted since this is yet to be fully demonstrated to the knowledge of the entire public.
Blanchard further averred that the FIU will recover its full mandate if it will investigate and bring PM Skerrit for alleged financial ills against the country.
In his submission, Bernard Hurtault said the citizens of a country cannot be truly happy where the government is corrupt. He said the level of happiness of a people is always commensurate to the financial health of the economy. He said the police brutality being unleashed on the people and the economic hardships being experienced by everyone, except a few members of cabinet, is a reflection of how bad the economy is run.
Representatives of the government are yet to respond to these allegations.
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