José Rosario, a political analyst from the Dominican Republic, has proposed a public-private alliance to operate the National Lottery, as he believes that “there is a lack of ethics in the public administration.”
The comments come days after a millionaire fraud scheme involving several public employees was unveiled around the local Lotería Nacional.
“I understand that it would be the healthiest thing we could possibly do,” he said, according to El Nuevo Diario. Regarding the current administrator Luis Michell Dicent, Rosario apologised to him, explaining: “I see he has good intentions to renew this institution, but unfortunately, here the lotteries have historically been a petty cash for personal use.”
Last week, the administrator formally filed a complaint against the collaborators responsible for the draw that took place on May 1, after local lottery companies asked him to review the draw for possible irregularities.
The trigger was that specific draw, although the administration will continue reviewing around 100 draws conducted between 2011 and 2021. According to Michell Dicent, the illicit structure reaches 30 people, which on May 1 they managed to steal more than 150m pesos.
“Due to the lack of ethics in the public sector, departments like the lottery are vulnerable, and they’re open to internal networks of administrative corruption,” Rosario added.
Furthermore, the politician Manuel Rojas also commented on El Nuevo Diario TV’s program Políticas Públicas en Línea that in the Dominican Republic “there are many institutions with corrupt networks, but it will take a long time before they can be dismantled.”
