JCE Requests Postponement of Faro Latino Hearing After Refusing to Disclose 2024 Overseas Election Expenses

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: The lawyers of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) requested a postponement from Judge Román A. Berroa Hiciano, presiding judge of the Fourth Chamber of the Superior Administrative Court, during the hearing of a compliance protection appeal filed by the newspaper El Faro Latino. The newspaper’s attorney, Dr. Fanny del Castillo, did not object, and the next hearing was scheduled for May 28, 2025.

On Tuesday, April 1, El Faro Latino served and notified the Central Electoral Board (JCE), its president Román Andrés Jáquez Liranzo, and the Administrative Attorney General with an appeal for constitutional protection through legal action No. 384/2025. The appeal was filed due to the JCE’s refusal to provide documents related to the expenses and budget for the 2024 Dominican elections held abroad.

The JCE was summoned through Order No. 3941-2025, issued by Judge Román A. Berroa Hiciano, who authorized the plaintiffs, Mr. Esteban Cabrera and El Faro Latino, to summon the defendants: the JCE, its president Román Jáquez Liranzo, and the Administrative Attorney General’s Office, to appear on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

El Faro Latino is conducting an ongoing investigative report involving Mr. Well Sepúlveda, director of Dominican Voting Abroad. He is responsible for managing the funds allocated by the JCE to cover the costs of the Dominican elections in the three overseas constituencies, which are divided among 33 Overseas Service Offices (OSE).

In the 2020 Dominican elections, El Faro Latino requested the same documents from the JCE under the same legal standards and received 18,800 records, which were thoroughly investigated, analyzed, and audited. According to their investigation, the embezzled funds exceeded US$4,618,696.76 (approximately RD$258,647,019.00) from a total estimated budget of US$7,179,625.20 (around RD$405,648,824.00, based on the exchange rate at that time). The evidence of this embezzlement was documented in the book titled The Broken Face of the Diaspora, written by this reporter, who led the investigation.