CARIBBEAN CONFERENCE: RAINIERI RESPONSE AND

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 004736 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR INR/AA, WHA/CAR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: DR OTRA PINR SNAR SUBJECT: CARIBBEAN CONFERENCE: RAINIERI RESPONSE AND DISGUST WITH CORRUPTION (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC) REF: A) STATE 245508 B) SANTO DOMINGO 4548 C) SANTO DOMINGO 4680 ¶1. (SBU) Dominican businessman Frank Rainieri told EcoPol counselor on Sept 4 that he is interested and potentially available to participate in the CSIS conference on the Caribbean. He has noted this in his agenda and awaits further information. Having surveyed the agenda, he asked about the format of his participation; EcoPol counselor suggested that given the time available, he would probably be asked for a 10-15 minute presentation, with availability to questions toward the end of the session. ¶2. (SBU) Rainieri said that he was pleased with the Aug 29 piece in the NY Times on his enterprise (World Business: "A Different Standard of Living: Dominican Resort is Community Project for Developers") but that it wouldn't get any play in the Dominican Republic. (The article reports his retort to President Mejia's teasing: "Excuse me, but we pay millions in taxes and not one cent is invested here. The ones who do not pay taxes are your friends. Here, political friendships are the source of privilege.") He said that he had taken a copy to that afternoon's meeting of the Monetary Board, where he is one of twelve members. Mejia's daughter saw him passing it to a friend, got up and came around the table with a inconsequential comment, clearly checking to identify the document. "They've read it in the Palace and they don't like it," he commented. "We are a little more exposed than we like -- my wife appeared in a seven-page article in Hola! this week" (Hola is a celebrity magazine published in Spain, France, and the UK). ¶3. (SBU) Rainieri says that he has been carrying around his letter of resignation from the Monetary Board, given his disgust with the inaction on the banking scandals, and he intends to update it. He has not decided whether to quit the Monetary Board in disgust. He expressed at length his disgust with cronyism in government, which hides corruption and promotes impunity. ¶4. (U) He introduced EcoPol counselor to Diogenes Checo, Executive Director of the NGO "Aprenda," set up by the Punta Cana Group and associates to promote prevention of drug use. Rainieri wants to continue coordination with the USG on this topic. Checo described Aprenda's efforts to educate company personnel departments to elaborate and apply anti-drug policies and to train employees. He said that efforts had begun to sensitize staffs of participating banks about the legal consequences of accepting funds tied to drug trafficking and to orient supervisors of export firms about ways to detect and prevent smuggling to the United States. KUBISKE