Financial scandal that threatens to derail 'Dominican Republic's Obama' | Part 1
Milton Morrison failed to declare a major real estate purchase in Florida made while he was running a major Dominican electricity supplier. His facade as a man of the people has begun to crumble.
Milton Morrison
Milton Morrison has been making shrewd moves for years to position himself as the Barack Obama of the Dominican Republic. He founded País Posible in 2017, a Dominican political party that sells hope and change to the people, and in doing so profiled himself as a political power broker.
País Posible has steadily grown to become one of the top five political parties in the country, a force to be reckoned with and one that the traditional parties must court if they want to win elections. Morrison has leveraged his political influence to gain access to comfortable positions within the Dominican government.
Morrison currently serves as director of the Instituto Nacional de Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre (INTRANT), a national entity charged with overseeing transit, roads and infrastructure in the Dominican Republic. He has used INTRANT as a platform to promote his vision of social change, positioning himself as a reformer who seeks to improve social services to combat inequality.
Morrison's appointment by President Luis Abinader
But a financial scandal has the potential to derail Morrison's ambitions and possibly land him in prison. When Morrison served as General Administrator of Edesur Dominicana S.A. (EDESUR), a major electricity provider in the Dominican Republic, he participated in real estate transactions that raised suspicions about his involvement in serious corruption, and subsequently failed to publicly declare such transactions, in apparent violation of criminal law.
Morrison failed to declare a major real estate purchase in Florida, United States, that was made while he headed EDESUR. Morrison and his wife, Davidia Del Carmen Jiménez, acquired a property in Weston in August 2021 for a total of $837,500 USD, according to contracts obtained by VOZ Media. The property is currently valued at $1.7 million.
The property acquired by Morrison
Below is the deed to the property that Morrison failed to declare, despite being legally required to include it in his estate disclosure documents:
Deed to the property Morrison failed to declare
A lien claim filed by 911 Mold Testing LLC on the property, in the total amount of $21,297 USD in December 2024, suggests that Morrison and his wife still own the property:
Lien claim
Morrison's acquisition of this property suggests an extreme level of corruption in his role at the head of EDESUR, considering that he managed to purchase such a luxurious property with the salary of a public official in an impoverished nation. This acquisition also contravenes Article 14 of Law 311-14, which states that public officials must submit a complete record of their sworn declaration of assets, without exception, both upon assuming and leaving office. Penalties for violating this provision include removal from office, disqualification from holding public office in the future, criminal charges for filing fraudulent documents, and substantial fines.
Morrison's ties with Midas Dominicana (Midas Red) also raise serious doubts. Under Morrison's leadership, EDESUR signed a direct contract with Midas Red to take over prepaid and postpaid electricity services, in apparent violation of the country's public procurement law, by circumventing the mandatory bidding process.
The questionable contracting process was recommended by Jhonattan Chevalier, who worked at EDESUR before being promoted to INTRANT's Procurement Committee, where he currently oversees contracts benefiting Midas Red. Chevalier is an influential member of País Posible, which is evidence that cronyism is a hallmark of Morrison's style of government.
Morrison has become close to the current president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader of the Partido Revolucionario Moderno. In 2020, Morrison endorsed Abinader's candidacy, providing him with the support of País Posible and helping him secure the presidency. As director of INTRANT, Morrison has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the president's policies, hoping that his sycophantic praise will boost his ambitions to climb the bureaucratic ladder and possibly protect him from criminal liability stemming from his irregularities at EDESUR.
“We have an open and inclusive government, which in this new period is initiating an ambitious reform plan that will continue to transform this nation, which already exhibits important advances and modernization,” Morrison said of Abinader's policies.
Morrison has made all of his posts on X (formerly Twitter) private in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the developing scandal. However, the allegations have not gone away. Morrison's facade as a man of the people is beginning to crumble. He is just another imposter, part of a long list of demagogues emerging in third world countries like the Dominican Republic, claiming to represent the people while committing acts of corruption behind the scenes, exploiting the economic precariousness of the majority to enrich themselves. Serious investigations and formal indictments against Morrison and his País Posible platform are required to restore public confidence and expose the magnitude of the crimes they are accused of.
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