Immediate Release: Friday, April 1, 2016

Contact: Michael Ewald, Communications Director, (605) 271-5405press@sddp.org

EB-5 Is Back, Government Accountability Is Not  

Sioux Falls, SD (April 1, 2016)-

Reacting to charges filed against former SDRC, Inc. head Joop Bollen for his role in allegedly misappropriating funds related to EB-5 and comments made by Governor Dennis Daugaard who said “the wheels of justice turn slow”, Suzanne Jones Pranger Executive Director of the South Dakota Democratic Party released the following statement:

“Justice delayed is justice denied. Two years ago, Democrats looked at the same facts as the Republicans and were able to make the determination that we needed a larger investigation of Joop Bollen and EB-5. We also had the foresight to introduce legislation that would have eliminated the conflict of interest found to be at the heart of the GEAR UP fiasco just a year later. We continue to put forth conflict of interest legislation and Republicans continue to defeat those measures on party-line votes. It appears Republicans are so entrenched in maintaining a system of patronage and cronyism, they refuse to acknowledge the obvious – South Dakota has a problem with conflict of interest and government corruption and we need to do something about it.”

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